Jan. 4, 2021: A 13-day layoff seemed to hurt the Gophers, falling () to Illinois in their first game since Dec. 23.
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Full Game Recap:
- First Half: In a night where Minnesota brought back their old-school benches, the Gophers struggled out of the gate. After an early 8-0 Illinois run, it was quickly a 13-5 ball game. Unfortunately, that was about as close as it would be. Led by Kofi Cockburn and Jacob Grandison Illinois was able to flex its muscles and jump out to a 33-19 lead heading into the 8-minute media timeout. Eric Curry was doing his best to slow him down, but Cockburn continued to control the game on both ends of the floor, with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks in the first half. A late first-half surge, helped the Gophers narrow the deficit to 41-30, but only eight combined shot attempts from Payton Willis and Jamison Battle were concerning, to say the least.
#Gophers trail 41-30 at the half. Certainly not a perfect half, but it could be much worse.
–>https://t.co/IGH8W7e7K6 pic.twitter.com/ChGuZXOkfy
— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) January 5, 2022
- Second Half: The beginning of the second half was much of the same. Illinois opened the final 20 minutes on a 9-0 run, extending its lead to 50-30 heading into the first media timeout of the half. Kofi Cockburn was ultimately too much to handle, once he asserted his dominance in this game, the Gophers were really never able to cover, and they never found an answer for him. Minnesota was never able to get the game under 20 again, and it wasn’t until the 12:00 minute mark, for Payton Willis to score his first points of the game. Walk-on sophomore Will Ramberg was the eighth Minnesota player off the bench and gave some solid minutes, but that was about the only positive spin on the second half. Treyton Thompson, Abdoulaye Thiam and Danny Ogele all saw minutes, but that is obviously not always a good sign. Illinois came out on top 76-53.
Final from the Barn.
Tough to put much of a positive spin on this one, but it is a long Big Ten season, and this team is still way ahead of schedule.
–>https://t.co/hjwcSjYkvH pic.twitter.com/OPMgdtkzuR
— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) January 5, 2022
Instant Reaction & Takeaways:
This was the first game of the season, where I thought the Gophers found themselves significantly lacking in the talent department. Illinois began the season as a top 10 team and a serious contender in the Big Ten. It has struggled, after an early suspension for Cockburn, and an injury to its star PG Andre Curbelo, but it is still one of the more talented rosters in the conference. When a team like Illinois is making shots, which it did, (shooting almost 50%) — it will be a struggle for this Gophers team to keep up offensively. They simply do not have the depth of talent to score with a team like Illinois and that showed up tonight.
When you’re two best players, Payton Willis and Jamison Battle aren’t finding much success or being aggressive offensively, it certainly does not help. Willis finished with 9 points on 3-10 shooting from the field and Battle finished with 10 points on 4-10 shooting. Cockburn clearly had an impact on the Gophers’ ability to be aggressive driving the basketball, trailing 42-18 in points scored in the paint. This is unfortunately the life in the Big Ten and the Cockburn might only be the fourth-best player in the conference… At the end of the day you have to hope this performance had something to do with the 13-day break in between games, and this does not become a habit.
What is Next?:
The Gophers will have another tough matchup with a Big Ten big man on Sunday, Jan. 9 in Bloomington, Indiana. Trayce Jackson-Davis is averaging 19.3 PPG and 8.3 RPG this season, and Minnesota will have its hands full with a very talented (10-3) Indiana team.
Big Ten play is officially in full swing, and it’s not gonna slow down. You have to step back and realize the Gophers just played their first game in 13 days, they’re way ahead of schedule and 10-2 this season, and it’s a long season. There is obviously a chance that this game was a news flash of where this team is talent-wise, but there is also a chance that it was just a bump in the road of the season. At the end of the day, there is still a lot of season left and I think this team and program is just getting started. In college basketball, you sometimes just run into a team that is hitting their shots, and I think that’s all tonight was.