It wasn’t Minnesota’s strengths that led it to victory against the Illinois men’s basketball team but the Illini’s inability to execute that proved detrimental in their 84-67 loss against the Golden Gophers.

Illinois head coach John Groce anticipated Minnesota’s prowess at offensive rebounding and causing turnovers as points of emphasis heading into Wednesday’s game at Assembly Hall. Yet No. 11 Illinois (14-3, 1-2 Big Ten) held No. 8 Minnesota (15-1, 3-0) to just seven rebounds on 27 opportunities and tied its season-low for turnovers with seven, forcing 15 of its own.

“That’s what’s so odd about the game,” Groce said. “If you had said to me before the game that we were going to play with seven turnovers and get 20 out of 27 rebounds back against the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the country, I would have said that we probably won.”

While Illinois succeed in limiting its turnovers, the team shot numerous ill-conceived shots both in its half-court offense and in transition. Many of the Illini’s 3-point attempts, especially early in the game, came within the first 10 seconds of the shot clock.

“If you take bad shots consistently, it’s like a turnover,” Groce said. “It can lead to run-outs.”

Minnesota guard Joe Coleman was a major beneficiary of the Golden Gophers’ 14 fast-break points. The 6-foot-4 sophomore finished the night with a career- and game-high 29 points. He shot 10-for-16 from the field, including 2-for-3 from distance;16 of his 29 points came off layups and dunks.

Senior Brandon Paul recorded his seventh 20-point game of the season with a team-high 21 points for Illinois, extending his double-digit scoring streak to 17 games — the longest of his career — in the process.

Paul also highlighted the first half with a bizarre play in which he soared over Minnesota forward Trevor Mbakwe for a monstrous one-handed dunk in which he both recorded two points and a charging foul. 

Sophomore Nnanna Egwu added nine rebounds, tying his career-high; Illinois has yet to have an individual player notch double-digits in rebounds this season.

“Per minutes played, I think his rebounds are going up,” Groce said. “He’s really made an effort to do that more. I liked his activity, I thought he played really, really hard.”

While Egwu continues to make strides toward becoming the big man Groce and the Illini seek, he struggled in his matchup against Minnesota’s Trevor Mbakwe, who finished the night with 19 points and 11 rebounds — three of which came on the offensive end.

“We gave up a couple offensive rebounds, which was kind of frustrating,” Egwu said. “It was pretty physical, but that’s the way it is in the Big Ten.”

A bigger concern for the Illini is their 3-point shooting after a 3-for-24 display that included particularly worrisome performances from two players Groce usually relies on to convert shots from beyond the arc.

Senior guard D.J. Richardson went 2-for-9 from three, lowering his long-distance percentage to .309 on the season despite shooting more threes than any other player on the team. Forward Tyler Griffey missed his only 3-point attempt of the night, which Groce said was a result of tentative play from his 6-foot-8 senior.

“I don’t care if he misses — I just want him to shoot it,” Groce said. “I thought he turned down three or four of them. Griff’s got to do a better job changing speeds and making harder cuts and creating some confusion.”

The Illini are now shooting .352 percent from three following the loss to Minnesota despite their reliance on attempts from beyond the arc earlier in the season. Illinois won decidedly against then-No. 8 Ohio State in its last game even while shooting just 8-for-27 on 3-point attempts, but it has struggled to pull out wins without long-distance success.

Minnesota, in turn, made 9-of-15 3-pointers on Wednesday.

“Our execution was awful. Awful,” Groce said. “And when you play a team as good as them, that’s what’s going to happen.”

Minnesota took a 21-19 lead in the midst of a 7-0 run with 6:45 left in the first half and never trailed for the rest of the game. The Golden Gophers patted their 34-0 halftime lead with a 6-0 run to start the second half before a 12-2 Illinois run behind strong play from sophomore point guard Tracy Abrams, who accounted for three field goals and an assist during the stretch but also committed a turnover that led to a breakaway dunk by Coleman to end the run and quiet the sold-out Assembly Hall crowd.

“It always helps when you can respond to that type of momentum,” said Tubby Smith, Minnesota’s mustachioed sixth-year head coach. “You could feel the momentum starting to shift.”

Minnesota’s win comes in the first of three straight matchups against top-tier teams in the Big Ten — arguably the strongest conference in the country this season. The Golden Gophers will visit No. 5 Indiana on Saturday before hosting No. 2 Michigan on Jan. 17.

Minnesota opened Big Ten play last season with a double-overtime loss to the Illini at Assembly Hall that sparked a four-game losing streak, which Smith on Wednesday said “sent us in a tailspin.”

“This is a huge uplift and a huge confidence builder for us,” Smith said after Wednesday’s win.

As for the Illini, they have a Saturday matinee against Wisconsin (11-4, 2-0), which is 9-1 at the Kohl Center this season. Illinois will look to avoid a tailspin of its own, as it has yet to lose back-to-back games all season.

The Golden Gophers, whose only loss this season came against No. 1 Duke, seem to have proven their legitimacy in relation to past seasons. Whether the same can be said of Illinois — which lost 12 of its last 14 games a season ago despite the promise of a 10-1 start — has yet to be determined.

Jeff can be reached at [email protected] and @jkirsh91.