CHICAGO — Cliff and Lynda Paul clawed through the pandemonium at the United Center.

Their son, Brandon, had just nailed a buzzer-beating fadeaway to seal the Illini men’s basketball team’s 51-49 win over Minnesota in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday, and they’d almost missed it.

They phoned the senior guard two days earlier to let him know they’d try to stay until the end of the game, as Cliff and Lynda also told Paul’s freshman brother, Western Michigan guard Darius Paul, they’d make his opening round matchup of the MAC Tournament in Cleveland on Thursday night.

Paul gave them every reason to stay.

No other Illini player scored more than six points in Thursday’s win. Paul finished his afternoon with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and drained 4-of-8 attempts from behind the arc. He also played stellar defense, pulled down five boards and didn’t turn the ball over once, a persistent problem with Paul this season.

Illini head coach John Groce has said throughout the year that his seniors die hard. On Thursday, Paul refused to let his Big Ten career perish without a fight.

“I didn’t want to lose. We worked too hard,” Paul said. “This team has so much character and the coaching staff, they got us right for this one, as they do for all the games. So my mindset was to be aggressive. Coach talked to me to just stay aggressive.”

Groce also preached ball control in his pregame preparation, realizing possessions would be limited against Minnesota, a team that led the conference in offensive rebounds during the regular season.

While the Illini lost the overall rebounding matchup 38-26, they finished with 12 offensive rebounds to Minnesota’s 11. They also forced Minnesota into 19 turnovers while limiting their takeaways to just six.

Eleven of the Golden Gophers’ turnovers came in the first half, allowing Groce’s squad build a 25-16 halftime lead despite shooting 37.5 percent in the first half.

That percentage dropped to 28.1 in the second half, causing the Illini’s grasp on the game to quickly vanquish after returning from the locker rooms. Minnesota seniors Austin Hollins and Trevor Mbakwe returned to the court after first-half foul trouble, and the Gophers came out firing. After shooting 27.3 percent in the first half, Minnesota shot 55.6 percent after the break, claiming a 32-26 lead in the first six minutes of the second half.

“Obviously, a tale of two halves here. I thought defensively we were really good in the first half,” Groce said. “I thought they then flipped that switch on us in the second half and were able to get stops, kind of get us out of rhythm a little bit.”

It took a few chances, but Illinois finally regained its rhythm with less than three minutes left in the game. The Illini missed on three attempts to tie on 3-pointers but kept the possession alive by wrestling offensive rebounds away from Minnesota, due in large part to tip outs by sophomore center Nnanna Egwu. Finally, senior guard D.J. Richardson — 1-for-11 from the field until then — nailed a 3-pointer with 48 seconds remaining to knot the game at 49-49.

“The offensive rebound effort was tremendous by our guys on the possession that led to D.J.’s three,” Groce said. “It put us in a position where we had a chance to win the game.”

In actuality, it gave Minnesota the ball back with a chance to take the lead with under a minute remaining. As the shot clock wound down, senior forward Sam McLaurin switched onto Austin Hollins and trapped him near the sideline.

“I did one of my moves that I do in the paint where you show your hands and test him a little bit, knock him off balance,” McLaurin said. “He started leaning a bit and I knew he was going to throw it off me.”

McLaurin jumped out of the way, and Hollins fell out of bounds, giving Illinois the ball with 15 ticks left.

There was never a question where the ball was going. The only matter up for debate was how to get the ball in Paul’s hands with two timeouts in Groce’s pocket.

“(Assistant coach) Dustin (Ford) and I were talking about it there on the bench,” Groce said. “I was about 50-50, to be honest, whether I was going to call one or not. But at the end of the day, I knew what I wanted to go with there.”

Groce didn’t give Minnesota a chance to make an adjustment. He let Illinois’ hopes ride in Paul’s hands.

After the ball swished through the net, Paul was mauled by his teammates then whisked into a TV interview. His parents found him shortly after.

“They’re super parents,” Paul said. “They told me they love me and way to play. I told them to tell Darius good luck.”

Luck has nothing to do with it. In the Paul family, It’s all about showing up.

Ethan can be reached at [email protected] and @AsOfTheSky.