Follow along with beat writer Scott Richey all night from Minneapolis:
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Illinois coach Brad Underwood remains impressed by what first-year Minnesota coach Ben Johnson has built this season. The Gophers had exactly zero expectations to even be average. Their response to that has been a 10-1 start with two pretty legitimate wins against Michigan (unless the Wolverines just keep going downhill) and Mississippi State.
“They’ve done an unbelievable job of finding a way to play,” Underwood said. “(Jamison Battle), a young guy that came back home and was at George Washington, has been a matchup nightmare. He’s had big games throughout the course of the season. Payton Willis moving over from a wing spot back to probably his best position at the point has been very effective.
“They’ve found a way to develop great chemistry, and, again, they’ve found it with age. You look down that roster and you’ve got 23- and 24-year-old guys out there. They’re playing the right way. Ben’s put a plan in place, and they’re executing it.”
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Could be an interesting matchup tonight at the Barn between Illinois (the No. 11 three-point shooting team in the country) and Minnesota (the No. 2 three-point defense team in the country).
“They’re very, very sound,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said of the Gophers. “They’re very conservative on the defensive end. They’re just right in front of you, so they make you shoot over a hand all the time. You’ve got to jump up and make them. We’ve seen some elite defenses.
“Everybody has kind of played us a different way. Some guys have pressured. Some guys have gone over (screens). Some guys have trapped. That’s the one thing we have seen is a lot of different defenses. We’re going to shoot our shots. Everything, again, starts with trying to execute, run good offense, not turn the ball over and keep everybody involved.”
Gameday in Minneapolis. #Illini pic.twitter.com/w4cPj3rN7r
— Scott Richey (@srrichey) January 4, 2022
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Check out what the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Marcus Fuller wrote heading into tonight’s game. Interesting note on how both Minnesota and Illini might be entirely different teams without key transfers Jamison Battle and Alfonso Plummer.
#ICYMI: Pregame: #Gophers and #Illini led by two of the nation’s top transfers Jamison Battle and Alfonso Plummer. Where would both programs be without their impact this season? @StribSports @GopherMBB @IlliniMBB https://t.co/iz7UmEeRTd pic.twitter.com/vLEWCWjzfc
— Marcus R. Fuller (@Marcus_R_Fuller) January 4, 2022
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As always, if you’re looking for an insightful preview/breakdown of tonight’s Illinois-Minnesota game, look no further than former Illini guard turned ESPN analyst Sean Harrington. Something he does before every Illinois game that I can recall even if he’s not on the call (or even if the game is on his network).
The @IlliniMBB start up @B1GMBBall play again with a game at Minnesota. Here is what to watch for. pic.twitter.com/Nu3Tz7dmYu
— Sean Harrington (@smharrington24) January 4, 2022
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Greetings from (thankfully not all that cold) Minneapolis. It’s almost as warm here as it is in back in Champaign. That’s what you call a travel win during a Big Ten winter.
So even though it’s been colder in Minneapolis when Illinois has faced Minnesota, the action is sure to still be hot inside Williams Arena tonight. (Couldn’t help myself). Whether the basketball is all that good, though, is to be determined.
Illinois hasn’t played since its Dec. 22 beatdown of Missouri that secured bragging rights for the next calendar year. A COVID-19 pause shut down the program last week, costing the Illini their final nonconference game of the season.
Minnesota is in the same boat, having last played Dec. 22 in a home win against Green Bay. The Gophers were also supposed to have one final nonconference game last week against Alcorn State. The Braves even made the trip to Minneapolis only for the game to be canceled because of COVID-19 issues on their part.
? ??’?? ????!? @ Minnesota? 6:00 PM CT? @FS1 #Illini | #EveryDayGuys pic.twitter.com/25HHN778Q9
— Illinois Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 4, 2022
The main difference, of course, in the last week is Minnesota got to practice. Two-thirds of the Illinois team spent much of the week in quarantine, with the change in CDC policy to a five-day quarantine the only thing that saved today’s game (that was pushed back from Sunday).
That’s still zero game reps for either team, though. Who will have more rust to shake off? Will all of the Illini (save for Austin Hutcherson and Andre Curbelo) actually be available as coach Brad Underwood said yesterday? How much will they play if they are?
All questions we’ll find out here in the next several hours in Minneapolis. Stay tuned.
Scott Richey covers college basketball for The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).