CHAMPAIGN — Kofi Cockburn returned to the University of Illinois campus in June along with most of the rest of the Illini men’s basketball veterans.

Cockburn was still in the evaluation process. Would he play another season in orange and blue for coach Brad Underwood or keep his name in the NBA draft?

When it came time to make that decision, Cockburn left Champaign and returned home to New York. It was a choice Cockburn felt like he had to make. A decision of that magnitude had to be made surrounded by his family.

“I just needed to be home and be around my mom and my brother — the people that really care about me — and listen to what they had to tell me,” Cockburn said.

Cockburn’s family had been involved in the process from day one in April when he declared for the draft after a breakout debut season.

A debut season at Illinois that saw him earn Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. That process had to end with family, too, with Cockburn learning on his mom, Dorothy Wray, and brother, Nagash Cockburn.

The distance from Champaign made a difference, too. Cockburn ultimately decided another season at Illinois was his best choice, announcing his return via social media on Aug. 1.

“I was clearing my head,” Cockburn said about his time back in New York. “Getting in my own space so I could think better. … That was all about making the right decision for me and my family. Over the years since I’ve been in the U.S., going to the NBA has been a big goal for me. I was just weighing my options, making sure I was making the right decision and making sure I’m not rushing things.”

Cockburn’s older brother has long been a driving force in his basketball pursuits. He was the one that pushed Cockburn to playing in the United States — a journey that led from legendary New York program Christ the King to national prep powerhouse Oak Hill Academy (Va.) and finally to Illinois. It was Wray, however, that delivered some needed motherly advice.

Cockburn admits his mom only started following basketball because he played. He had to explain what the ongoing pandemic meant in terms of his pro potential. Her advice? Another year at Illinois.

“I was explaining the combine process and how important that was and how important the NCAA tournament was,” Cockburn said. “How things could turn out and how things should have turned out. She really listened to me and thought about it. Her argument was definitely valued because she was on the same page as me.

“She basically explained it to me like, ‘If you had a combine and had an NCAA tournament, I would probably be telling you to go. You told me you didn’t have those and didn’t have a chance to prove what you guys could do.’”

Cockburn came to his final decision thanks to a combination of insight and feedback he got from his family. The Illinois coaching staff, too. But a single conversation with teammate Ayo Dosunmu, however, might have been the tipping point.

Their collective mindset, Cockburn said, was on staying in the draft. Their conversations this spring and summer dealt with the feedback they were getting from NBA teams and the questions they might face in interviews with different organizations.

But in late July, Dosunmu let Cockburn know there was a possibility he would pull his name out of the draft and return to Illinois.

Game changer.

“That’s when the, ‘What if?’ came in like, ‘What if we both came back?’” Cockburn said. “That was really interesting to me when he told me that. It gave me a whole better understanding of things and basically helped in my decision.”

A different choice from Dosunmu, who ultimately announced his return the day before Cockburn, wouldn’t necessarily have automatically changed the Illini 7-footer’s decision. It might have made him think twice, though.

“It really surprised me,” Cockburn said. “I thought Ayo was 100 percent gone. I had no idea he would even return. Just hearing that, to be honest with you, even if I had better draft stock and had opportunity to go really, really high, I would have considered coming back with Ayo.”

Cockburn’s goal is still the NBA. The three-plus months he went through the pandemic-altered pre-draft process clarified what was still necessary to reach that level. That time also firmed up Cockburn’s approach to another season at Illinois.

“Most importantly, I want to be a winner,” he said. “Before everything else, before my individual improvement — me working on my jump shot, making sure I stay in great shape, making sure I rebound at a high level — my main interest is basically winning. To come back and win a national championship with these guys.”