Illinois Basketball: 5 takeaways from the Illini loss to Minnesota

1 of 6

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JANUARY 3: Head coach Brad Underwood of the Illinois Fighting Illini reacts during the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers on January 3, 2018 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

The Illinois basketball team started their regular Big Ten Conference play last night with a loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Illinois doesn’t like to make things easy. Being close the entire game is boring to them so they like to get down by 20 points in the first half. That is what happened on Wednesday night, anyway.

Minnesota managed to start the game off on an 11-0 run and then increased that to a 28-8 advantage. The Illini didn’t give up, though. That is what impresses me about Brad Underwood coached teams. They fight until the very end. Illinois was actually able to get the margin down to 13 points at halftime.

Illinois continued to fight the entire game. They got the score back to 55-51 but couldn’t manage to get it any closer. Minnesota ended up fending off the Illini and winning the game 77-67.

The slow start killed the Illini on Wednesday night. This isn’t the first time it has happened this season, though. They need to figure out what to do to prevent those slow starts from happening.

There were a few things I took away from this game. Here are five takeaways from the loss to Minnesota.

Home/Illinois Basketball