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Coleman Hawkins suited up for the Illinois basketball team for four seasons, blossoming into one of the team’s top contributors as a senior. He’s since decided to spurn the Illini for his final year of college hoops.
Hawkins recently committed to Kansas State, where he’ll play as a fifth-year transfer.
He spoke on that career move in a recent podcast appearance while detailing the ups and downs of his last season in Champaign. In the process, he threw his now former coaches under the bus as he makes his way out the door!
Hawkins averaged a career-high 12.1 points a game in the 2023-24 campaign while adding 6.1 boards. That production made him a versatile threat on both ends of the floor as helped guide the Illini to 29 wins.
Illinois reversed the script in the NCAA Tournament this past March after seeing early exits from the postseason his three years prior. After winning the Big Ten Tournament Championship, Hawkins and Co. bested Morehead State, Duquesne, and Iowa State on their way to the Elite Eight.
There, they ran into the buzzsaw that was UCONN.
While the Illini were able to keep things close in the first half, entering the midway point with just a five-point deficit, the Huskies turned up the heat after halftime.
UCONN outscored Illinois by 20 points in the final 20 minutes to leave with a 77-52 win.
The loss ended Hawkins’ season, and as it turns out, his Illinois career.
He was asked about that defeat while appearing on a Sleepers Media podcast this week.
Coleman Hawkins blamed his coaches for that setback.
That gameplan was to attack UCONN big man Donovan Clingan early and often on the offensive side of the ball.
The Illini found out very early that it wasn’t going to work, being held to just 23 first half points, but head coach Brad Underwood insisted on doubling down.
“If he blocks 100 he blocks 100”
Famous last words pic.twitter.com/RcXHIRgxN7
— Ryan Cassidy (@ryancassidycbb) March 30, 2024
Clingan didn’t get 100 blocks, but he did have five to go along with 10 boards.
At one point in the contest, Illinois went scoreless for 14:30 minutes of play, which UCONN used to go on a 30-0 run. That drought effectively put the game out of reach, signaling the end of the season.
When asked about the loss, Coleman Hawkins said the gameplan was the problem!
How many more chances would Illinois have needed to beat UConn last season?
Coleman Hawkins (@colehawk23) admits the ‘gameplan’ was the problem, but adds his answer…
“If we played them one more time, we would have beat them” pic.twitter.com/Kt316WVloX
— Sleepers Media 💤🏀 (@SleepersMedia) June 19, 2024
“Our gameplan was just…” he said before scoffing in disgust. “My frustrations came in when I’m at the 5, and the whole point of me being at the 5 was to create advantages offensively. We didn’t create any advantages offensively – we were at 23 points at half.
“I was standing in a corner for the whole half, and this is just me being real, I definitely would’ve switched up our gameplan somehow, someway. It wouldn’t have been stagnant and just run a high-ball screen again and again.”
Hawkins says he would’ve done something, anything different to mix things up on offense. That adjustment apparently never came! Or in the very least, it came far too late.
He wasn’t the only person critical of the scheme watching the Huskies turn Illinois scorers away at the rim time and again. Actor Larry David, who was in attendance, was heard blasting Brad Underwood’s attack as the deficit began to grow.
“Change your strategy!”
Hawkins also went as far as to say that Illinois would beat UCONN if given another opportunity, albeit with a different plan of attack. Unfortunately, we’ll never know!