3. Minnesota didn’t play bad basketball
After the first five minutes or so of the first half, there wasn’t a point in the game where I was worried about the Illinois basketball team. You could tell the game plan was smart and that Illinois was in control of this contest.
It was honestly a blowout of mass proportions. Illinois has had a few of these this season where you can tell the Illini are just more talented and deeper than the opponent. While the lead at halftime was only 11 points, Illinois had complete control of this contest. We showed that quickly in the second half.
At one point, Illinois increased the lead to 27 points. Minnesota went on a 6-0 run to end the game, but we still won by 21 points. The crazy part about this drubbing of the Golden Gophers is the fact that Minnesota didn’t play a bad game.
The Golden Gophers shot 40% from three-point range, which is pretty impressive. They were efficient in the game too. They had a 5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, as Minnesota finished with 15 assists and just three turnovers in the game.
If someone mentioned to me that a team had the numbers I laid out above, I would say that team is going to be competitive with their opponent. That didn’t end up being the case, though.
I think, at the end of the day, this was an example of Illinois just being a better team than Minnesota. We suffocated them with our talent.
Illinois had the big men to dominate the glass, as we had a 12-rebound advantage, 38-26. Minnesota didn’t have an answer for a 6-foot-8 perimeter player who can score at all levels in Will Riley. There was no guard play good enough to handle the reemergence of Kasparas Jakucionis either.
It is not like Minnesota came out of the gates and laid an egg. They played well enough to compete with a lot of teams in college basketball. The Golden Gophers just ended up playing a more talented Illinois squad that just happened to play an A-game on Saturday.