***OFFICIAL ILLINOIS AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***



Well, that was not worth watching. Yet, it highlights how far behind others UMN is in regard to basketball. It makes one look forward to next season and hope something changes for the good.
 












I left with about 5 minutes remaining and for some reason I tried to find the game on the radio. I couldn't find it on any of the usual places, but I ran across the Illinois station with their home broadcasting crew. They must've repeated at least 6-7 times that this was the best game they had seen Illinois play all year. The Lithuanian freshman had been in a real slump and he couldn't miss. The Canadian freshman had been struggling from 3 and he ended with 27 and couldn't miss. The 7 footer was like 9-10 and hit 3's. They repeatedly said "where has this been the last month?" Anyway, I don't think a lot of teams in the country would have beaten Illinois today....FWIW
 

I left with about 5 minutes remaining and for some reason I tried to find the game on the radio. I couldn't find it on any of the usual places, but I ran across the Illinois station with their home broadcasting crew. They must've repeated at least 6-7 times that this was the best game they had seen Illinois play all year. The Lithuanian freshman had been in a real slump and he couldn't miss. The Canadian freshman had been struggling from 3 and he ended with 27 and couldn't miss. The 7 footer was like 9-10 and hit 3's. They repeatedly said "where has this been the last month?" Anyway, I don't think a lot of teams in the country would have beaten Illinois today....FWIW
Well, if the other team is able to isolate the ball defender one on one by putting their other four guys
on the weak side of the floor and help never comes...you aren't going to prevent any decent player from scoring in 2025. Especially, with our one one defenders.
Unbelievable, you can't do that in B squad high school games...help will prevent it....not the Gophers today. Back him down with 5 dribbles, reverse pivot for a layup.
 



They had wide open looks all night. They schooled us in every way possible. Offensively we played about as well as we are capable of, made our free throws, didn't turn it over. We could not come close to stopping them.
I stopped watching the game as soon as the back-door slam dunks became so consistent, Illinois was measuring if they could install a mini bar cabana behind our basket.
 

I left with about 5 minutes remaining and for some reason I tried to find the game on the radio. I couldn't find it on any of the usual places, but I ran across the Illinois station with their home broadcasting crew. They must've repeated at least 6-7 times that this was the best game they had seen Illinois play all year. The Lithuanian freshman had been in a real slump and he couldn't miss. The Canadian freshman had been struggling from 3 and he ended with 27 and couldn't miss. The 7 footer was like 9-10 and hit 3's. They repeatedly said "where has this been the last month?" Anyway, I don't think a lot of teams in the country would have beaten Illinois today....FWIW
It seems many teams come to The Barn to find themselves.
 


It seems many teams come to The Barn to find themselves.
It’s been injury and illness. Jakucionis missed games with a forearm injury and struggled a bit with the “freshman wall.” Ivisic had mono and a sprained ankle and missed multiple games. Riley had the flu. Even today, Gibbs-Lawhorn and Tre White were recovering from the flu and barely played.

But today was the closest to healthy they had been in awhile. The team is also the youngest team in Power 4 so they can be a bit up and down. Illinois had 3 freshmen on the floor for large parts of the game including the two who had 27 and 24.

The hope is they can get fully healthy in the next few weeks. They have UCLA, MSU, Wisconsin and Duke coming up next.
 

I left with about 5 minutes remaining and for some reason I tried to find the game on the radio. I couldn't find it on any of the usual places, but I ran across the Illinois station with their home broadcasting crew. They must've repeated at least 6-7 times that this was the best game they had seen Illinois play all year. The Lithuanian freshman had been in a real slump and he couldn't miss. The Canadian freshman had been struggling from 3 and he ended with 27 and couldn't miss. The 7 footer was like 9-10 and hit 3's. They repeatedly said "where has this been the last month?" Anyway, I don't think a lot of teams in the country would have beaten Illinois today....FWIW
Or…I don’t think a lot of teams in the country couldn’t have beaten the Gophers today.
 

For those who is wondering why M Mitchell is a non factor, I just learned that he is still trying to play through an injury that never healed. Now, he is dealing with an Achilles tendon injury. Don’t be surprised if he is out the remainder of the season. He can’t get any lift on his shots.

This gives Asuma and Rigsby more minutes. It will not make a difference. Ben has turned this team into a Femi and Patterson team which teams like Illinois love. Prevent Garcia for getting points and allow others to shoot us out of a game.
 

This gives Asuma and Rigsby more minutes. It will not make a difference. Ben has turned this team into a Femi and Patterson team which teams like Illinois love. Prevent Garcia for getting points and allow others to shoot us out of a game.

That's nonsense. This is a Garcia focused team on offense. That's the way it should be but sometimes he has an off night and others have to step up. Femi and Patterson did but they didn't "shoot us out of the game." They were both relatively efficient on offense last night and overall the team was about 5 or 6 points above its season scoring average. We just couldn't stop Illinois from scoring at a feverish pace.
 

For those who is wondering why M Mitchell is a non factor, I just learned that he is still trying to play through an injury that never healed. Now, he is dealing with an Achilles tendon injury. Don’t be surprised if he is out the remainder of the season. He can’t get any lift on his shots.

This gives Asuma and Rigsby more minutes. It will not make a difference. Ben has turned this team into a Femi and Patterson team which teams like Illinois love. Prevent Garcia for getting points and allow others to shoot us out of a game.
Achilles injuries are awful.
 

For those who is wondering why M Mitchell is a non factor, I just learned that he is still trying to play through an injury that never healed. Now, he is dealing with an Achilles tendon injury. Don’t be surprised if he is out the remainder of the season. He can’t get any lift on his shots.

This gives Asuma and Rigsby more minutes. It will not make a difference. Ben has turned this team into a Femi and Patterson team which teams like Illinois love. Prevent Garcia for getting points and allow others to shoot us out of a game.
What about Cochran? I assume he wants to keep a year of eligibility and claim a medical redshirt at this point, but if M Mitchell is indeed out, his services might be helpful.
 

What about Cochran? I assume he wants to keep a year of eligibility and claim a medical redshirt at this point, but if M Mitchell is indeed out, his services might be helpful.
He's still visibly limping so I have my doubts.
 


I doubt anything would have helped, but the lack of aggression by Garcia and Asuma tonight didn’t do us any good. Asuma, ONE what attempt in 25? Minutes?
 

I doubt anything would have helped, but the lack of aggression by Garcia and Asuma tonight didn’t do us any good. Asuma, ONE what attempt in 25? Minutes?

Given that Mike Mitchell appears to be still ailing and a bit off in general, Asuma really should be playing most of minutes now at the third guard spot. But, if he's going to play those kinds of minutes, he has to get more assertive on the offensive end. There's no reason why he can't. His effective field goal percentage in conference games is the highest among the guards. He also needs to get to the line more often.

Garcia just had a rough game. He has those now and then.
 

I left with about 5 minutes remaining and for some reason I tried to find the game on the radio. I couldn't find it on any of the usual places, but I ran across the Illinois station with their home broadcasting crew. They must've repeated at least 6-7 times that this was the best game they had seen Illinois play all year. The Lithuanian freshman had been in a real slump and he couldn't miss. The Canadian freshman had been struggling from 3 and he ended with 27 and couldn't miss. The 7 footer was like 9-10 and hit 3's. They repeatedly said "where has this been the last month?" Anyway, I don't think a lot of teams in the country would have beaten Illinois today....FWIW
If you give a good team space and they get comfortable- look out. They are very good and we played poor defense.
 




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