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How to Watch Illinois vs. Minnesota
Game Time: 11 a.m. Saturday
TV Channel: BTN
Online Streaming: FoxSportsGO
Odds: N/A (Illinois 92.5% Chance To Win – ESPN Matchup Predictor)
Quick Hits:
Illinois Fighting Illini (14-3, 5-1 Big Ten)
Head Coach: Brad Underwood (9th season)
Last Game: Illinois 79, Northwestern 68
Gameday Reading:
Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-7, 3-3 Big Ten)
Head Coach: Niko Medved (1st season)
Last Game: Wisconsin 78, Minnesota 75
What Happened the Last Time These Two Teams Played?
- Illinois leads the all-time series 131-68.
Feb. 8, 2025: Illinois 95, Minnesota 74
MINNEAPOLIS — The Illini’s offense was finally humming again.
Shooting a season-low three-point attempts following its recent struggles, No. 23 Illinois let out a few weeks’ worth of frustrations, cruising to a comfortable victory over Minnesota, 95-74, on Saturday night.
Entering play Saturday, the Illini had shot a dreadful 24.7% from three over its past 10 games, sliding all the way outside the top 300 nationally in three-point shooting on the season, despite taking the fifth-most of them per game in all of Division I. They made a concerted effort to mix up their approach against the Gophers — much to their offense’s benefit.
Illinois shot its best percentage from long-range of the season — but on just 16 attempts. It got things working from just about everywhere on the offensive end, placing a clear emphasis on attacking the rim early and owning the Gophers in the paint before breaking the game open with some long-awaited red-hot shooting.
“Our intent was to start at the rim and kind of work out,” Brad Underwood said. “(Threes are) a big part of what we do, it’s just what they gave us tonight.”
Minnesota (12-12, 4-9 Big Ten) began the game on a shooting flurry, knocking down its first three three-point attempts to jump out to a lightning quick 9-2 lead. But things quickly dried up for the Gophers, and it was all Illinois (16-8, 8-6 Big Ten) after that.
The second half was an offensive display unlike anything the Illini have put forth since their trip to Oregon back in early January. They hot 73% from the floor and 60% from three out of the break, building a lead of as many as 27 points.
For the fourth consecutive game, Will Riley led the charge with a second half heater, pouring in 19-second half points en route to the best performance of his young career — one that flirted with a triple-double.
Tomislav Ivisic also was an important catalyst to the Illini’s breakthrough evening. The big man was listed as questionable prior to tipoff after suffering a left ankle injury against Rutgers, but nobody would’ve never known that watching him take the floor on Saturday. He recorded his ninth double-double of the season.
“I thought the performance of the night was Tomi,” Underwood said. “If you could see his ankle — it looks like a really quite enlarged cabernet grape…My hats off to him because when you start getting that way, you start thinking about your teammates and not yourself, and that’s huge.”
But perhaps the best news of the night for Illinois? Kasparas Jakucionis appeared to finally snap out of his prolonged slump with an efficient 24-point performance and more importantly — just one turnover.
“He and I had a long talk,” Underwood said. “I’ve never been around a more studious young man, I’ve never been around somebody who cares so much. He’s a perfectionist. You’ve got to let go of a bad moment or a bad game…I didn’t doubt that he would be back.”
Illinois must just love seeing the Gophers. The Illini have scored 200 combined points in their past two meetings with Minnesota (105-97 win last February).
But more importantly, they’ve seemingly found an offensive formula that works and showed very positive signs of busting out of their recent struggles.
“I keep saying it and I don’t think anybody believes me: our ceiling’s really high,” Underwood said. “Unfortunately, it’s been a really challenging month. Five weeks, whatever it’s been, where we haven’t been whole.”
Category: General Sports
