After two back-to-back wins on the road against Big Ten rivals, No. 13 Illinois (14-3, 5-1) heads back to State Farm Center to take on Minnesota (10-7, 3-3). The Illini are currently on a six-game winning streak heading into this matchup, and a win on Saturday morning would give the program its first seven-game streak since March 2024.
“I think (Minnesota’s) one of the top 35 oldest teams in the country,” said head coach Brad Underwood.“They’ve done a nice job of blending experience and finding that through the portal and some guys back … We’ll have to be on our P’s and Q’s and at our best to hopefully find a way to get it done tomorrow.”
Sticking with offensive balance
Over the course of the last few weeks, Illinois has continued to create an identity for itself as a team that plays unselfishly and goes to different players each night to step up. While having so much offensive star power on a roster may be difficult for other programs to navigate, the Illini are finding success by accepting individual roles, even adapting those game-to-game.
“Winning trumps all, it doesn’t matter,” Underwood said. “You work to play the game, to win it, and all the other stuff will take care of itself. It doesn’t matter what your numbers are. I think, right now, we’re in a unique spot. The top 10 scorers in the league aren’t on the top five teams. It’s winning, and it’s balance.”
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Using a balanced offensive approach where anyone can take over a game is what has led to Illinois’ six-game winning streak and its climb up the AP Top 25 rankings. It has also helped the Illini finish out close games well by having multiple players who can show up in clutch moments. In Wednesday’s victory over Northwestern, it was junior center Tomislav Ivišić who sealed the game, hitting back-to-back threes down the stretch to cap off his 21-point performance. Earlier in the week, senior guard Kylan Boswell and freshman guard Keaton Wagler were the ones to step up to the plate, knocking down free throws to lead Illinois past Iowa.
“I think what we do best is, like I said, leveraging one another to be the best versions of ourselves and continuously working off one another,” Boswell said. “We have so many options and threats. Tomi going off for 20. I’ll get 20. Keaton gets 20.(Junior wing Andrej Stojaković) gets 20. It can be anybody’s night, and none of us cares about whose night it is. All we care about is winning the game and doing it the right way.”
This offensive philosophy is quite different from the one Illinois will see from Minnesota, but that doesn’t mean it needs to change its strategy. When the Illini stick to playing off one another and going to the hot hand each night, they aren’t easy for opposing teams to defend, no matter who they’re facing.
What to know about the Golden Gophers
Although Illinois goes into this contest with a leg up over Minnesota in terms of rankings, Minnesota isn’t a stranger to strong performances when facing Top 25 opponents. To start Big Ten play in early December, the Golden Gophers defeated then-No. 22 Indiana, 73-64, behind five of their players scoring in double figures. About a month later, a 22-point outing by senior guard Langston Reynolds led Minnesota to its second-ranked victory, this time over then No. 19 Iowa. The Golden Gophers have lost two close games since then, but they still have experience against top talent that the Illini can’t overlook.
Compared to Illinois, Minnesota plays a shorter rotation of only seven players, almost all of whom head coach Niko Medved picked up from the transfer portal in the offseason. Alongside a shorter rotation, the Golden Gophers also show a smaller lineup, electing to play a five-out style of offense that encourages plenty of driving and cutting.
“They’ve figured out how to play with seven (players), and they’ve gotten really good because of their role identification with those seven guys,” Underwood said. “ … It only takes five on the court at one time, and the seven they’re playing with are all very productive. I love the fact that they’ve got role identification and they’ve got some guys that in an overtime game the other night, a couple of them played 45 minutes … We’ve got to attack the way we attack and not worry about who’s playing for them and who’s not.”
While senior guard/forward Cade Tyson is Minnesota’s leading scorer, junior forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson plays a key role in the team’s offense. Crocker-Johnson is the Golden Gophers’ tallest and biggest player in their consistent rotation at 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds, proving just how much of a size advantage the Illini have in this matchup. As he plays a stretch forward in the center position, Crocker-Johnson forces bigger defenders to guard on the 3-point line and stop his aggressive drives. Illinois’ twin centers, Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivišić, have to be ready to use their size to overpower Crocker-Johnson, even on the perimeter.
Other supporting guards, Langston and sophomore Isaac Asuma, are also pivotal pieces to the Minnesota offense. They both average about 10 points per game, but in different ways. Langston is a high-volume scorer near the rim, shooting an efficient 56.3% from the field. However, he isn’t a threat from the 3-point line. On the other hand, Asuma is shooting a solid 31.1% from three. The Illini perimeter players will have a noticeable size advantage over these guards and need to use it defensively.
Defending another Big Ten top scorer
For the second straight game, Illinois takes on the task of defending one of the Big Ten’s top scorers at this point in the season. Tyson, who transferred to Minnesota from North Carolina this offseason, is currently No. 2 in the Big Ten in points per game with 21.1. He sits right behind Northwestern senior forward Nick Martinelli, who scored 20 points on 5 for 12 shooting against Illinois on Wednesday night.
The Golden Gophers go to Tyson to execute the bulk of their scoring, and the senior does efficiently all across the board. Tyson is shooting 50.5% from the field, including 39.3% from three, as well as 79.8% from the free-throw line. At 6-foot-7 and 195 pounds, Tyson is an offensive threat both on the perimeter and in the paint. He also doesn’t lack free-throw attempts as he’s taken 141 shots from the charity stripe through 17 games. Defending Tyson without fouling will need to be a focus for Illinois’ defense, no matter where he is.
Per usual, the assignment of defending a player such as Tyson will more than likely go to Boswell, as he’s proven time and time again that he can defend anyone at a high level, no matter the size difference. Boswell defended different types of players over the last week, in both Martinelli and Iowa senior guard Bennett Stirtz, and kept them both below their scoring averages.
“It’s invaluable,” Underwood said of how important Boswell is to the Illini. “There’s no price tag you could put on it. He just solves problems, and his ability to guard multiple guys is special. There’s not a lot of guys out there that have that physical strength and determination.”
Update on Mirković, Wagler
Both of Illinois’ star freshmen, Wagler and forward David Mirković, played through health issues to lead Illinois to victory on Wednesday. While Mirković still played 30 minutes in the contest, he had been dealing with the flu and didn’t go through much of pregame warmups. Even though Wagler scored 22 points, he worked through back spasms before the game started.
Per Underwood, Wagler now has a different lingering injury, as he dislocated his hip on Wednesday’s bus ride, but Underwood doesn’t expect it to be an issue moving forward. Although Mirković was drained from the flu, he is fighting his way back and practiced on Friday.
@evy_york2
