INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Kofi Cockburn muscled his way to 18 points and Illinois cruised past 16th-seeded Drexel 78-49 Friday in the Illini's first NCAA Tournament game as a No. 1 seed in 16 years.
Illinois (23-6) will face eighth-seeded Loyola Chicago in the second round of the Midwest Regional on Sunday.
Maybe that will be more of a test for the Big Ten champions. Drexel (12-8) never really had chance at containing the 7-foot, 285-pound Cockburn, who was 8 for 11 from the field.
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