Illinois Basketball: Minnesota game rescheduled, Illini to play 4 games in 9 days

It looks like the Illinois basketball team will get their second shot at Minnesota after all.

On Monday afternoon, the Illini men’s basketball Twitter account tweeted out that the game between Illinois and Minnesota would not be played on Tuesday due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols within the Gophers program.

The tweet also mentioned that the two schools and the Big Ten were working on finding a path forward, which is difficult considering how close to the end of the season we are right now.

Later on Tuesday night, another tweet was posted announcing that the game will indeed be played. We are looking at seeing the Orange and Blue take on Minnesota on Monday, February 20 at 8:00 p.m. CT.

It is going to be a few insane weeks for the Illinois basketball team.

With the Minnesota game getting rescheduled, the Illini will have a few crazy weeks heading into the Big Ten Tournament.

This Saturday, Illinois takes on No. 24 Rutgers in Champaign. We then go on the road to take on Penn State that Tuesday. Those two games are regularly scheduled, and Illinois has a chance to move up in the Big Ten standings with a couple of victories.

But then the schedule gets logjammed. Illinois travels to Bloomington to take on Indiana on February 18. We come back home on February 20 for the Minnesota game. Northwestern comes to town on February 23. And then the Illini go to Columbus to take on Ohio State on February 26.

For those of you counting at home, that is four games in nine days. That is a rough stretch for a team that is trying to compete for a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. February will be an interesting month. Hopefully, we aren’t too dead heading into the postseason.