Kofi Cockburn plops down on the leather folded chairs inside of the visitor’s locker room at Mackey Arena and stares blankly at the adjoining wall as Illinois head coach Brad Underwood addresses Cockburn and his teammates following an 84–68 drubbing at No. 3 Purdue on Feb. 8.
Naturally, Cockburn is mad, but it’s less just give him a second mad and more I want to snap this chair in two with my bare hands—a viable option for the 7-foot, 285-pounder.
He settles on suppression, fighting back angry tears and biting the walls inside his mouth as sweat pools under him on the cold floor.