Will Riley scored 27 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished seven assists, and No. 23 Illinois pulled away for a 95-74 win over Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference battle on Saturday evening in Minneapolis.
Kasparas Jakucionis finished with 24 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field for Illinois (16-8, 8-6), which bounced back from a loss at Rutgers on Wednesday. Tomislav Ivisic notched a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Lu’Cye Patterson scored 24 points on 9-for-17 shooting to lead Minnesota (12-12, 4-9), which has lost three of its last four games. Femi Odukale finished with 22 points on 8-for-17 shooting, and Dawson Garcia tallied 12 points and six rebounds.
Illinois outscored Minnesota 50-26 in the paint.
The Fighting Illini shot an impressive 63.2 percent (36 of 57) overall and 56.3 percent (9 of 16) from 3-point range. Minnesota shot 40.9 percent (27 of 66) from the field and 40 percent (8 of 20) from beyond the arc.
The Golden Gophers jumped to a 16-11 lead in the first five-plus minutes on a jump shot by Patterson.
Illinois responded with a 9-0 run to grab a 20-16 edge with 12:30 left in the half. Riley finished the run with a layup off a pass from Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn.
By halftime, the Fighting Illini increased their lead to 46-35. Riley capped the first-half scoring with a layup with 26 seconds to go.
Minnesota fell further behind in the second half.
Jakucionis made back-to-back layups to give Illinois a 67-50 lead with 9:40 left. Minnesota called timeout to try to regroup, but the Fighting Illini increased their lead to 21 when Jake Davis sank a 3-pointer to make it 76-55 with seven minutes to go.
Another 9-0 run for Illinois made it 88-61 with 3:17 remaining. Riley started the run with a layup and a 3-pointer, and Ivisic finished it by making back-to-back jump shots.
–Field Level Media
