Illini defeat Minnesota, pick up 7th straight win

11 a.m. home games in the Brad Underwood era have been surprisingly bad. Inferior teams always seem to bring their "A" game went visiting Champaign for some late morning hoops. The start of this one felt no different. Minnesota's Jaylen Crocker-Johnson hit two threes on their opening possessions and forced Brad Underwood to call a timeout not even two minutes into the game. The start gave me and many other Illini fans flashbacks to last year's USC loss at the same time without students on campus as well. Unlike last year, this Illini team continued to show no adversity is too much to handle. Illinois was able to pull away late and win 77-67.

Minnesota entered the game known for their scrappiness and fight. They had already suffered three season ending injuries, so their rotation is as thin as any high-major team. Niko Medved's team has exceeded all expectations despite losing rotational pieces due to injury. Minnesota came ready to play. The Gophers went to a 2-3 zone from the start, and it bothered Illinois. The Illini could not get the ball into the middle of the zone and instead passed it around the perimeter a couple of times before launching a three pointer. The game flipped when Zvonimir Ivisic checked in. Big Z's length and athleticism was too much for Minnesota. In his first few minutes, Zvonimir blocked a shot, stole a pass which led to breakaway dunk, and hit a three. Niko Medved that we should realize how fortunate it is to have a potential NBA player coming off the bench every night. It's a luxury so few teams have, and the Illini are one of the few who can say so.

The biggest issue in the first half was the defensive errors. It was really only the lack of communication on Jaylen Crocker-Johnson who scored Minnesota's first 8 points and finished the half with 17 points, 5 shy of his career high. Illinois eventually made the switch to not put an Ivisic on him and instead "dork" Langston Reynolds who had only hit 3 threes entering the day, similar to what we have seen teams do to Ty Rodgers in the past. The defensive was a whole lot better in the second half. There was an 8-point burst Minnesota had where the Illini had held their own for 27 seconds, but Minnesota was able to hit a tough shot in the final 3 seconds. If you're Illinois, you can live with that.

Offesnivley, Illinois finally figured out how to crack the 2-3 zone Minnesota was in and forced them to change between zone and man. David Mirkovic had some bad turnovers, but his shot making ability helped change the game in favor of Illinois in the second half. It was back and forth until Illinois took firm control with 3 minutes left after putting Keaton Wagler and Tomislav Ivisic in pick and pop situations late once again. A 10-point conference win when you didn't play great is something every fan would gladly take.

Illinois is back on Wednesday against Maryland at the State Farm Center.