Zvonimir Ivisic had 18 points and nine rebounds and Keaton Wagler added 17 points as No. 13 Illinois stayed hot with a 77-67 victory against visiting Minnesota on Saturday in Champaign, Ill.
Illinois (15-3, 6-1 Big Ten) won its seventh straight game behind a plus-11 rebounding edge and a balanced attack.
David Mirkovic (12 points) and Tomislav Ivisic (10) also scored in double figures for the Fighting Illini.
Minnesota (10-8, 3-4) lost its third straight game in another back-and-forth contest. Before Saturday, the Golden Gophers’ past two defeats — at home to USC and Wisconsin — came by four combined points, with the game against the Trojans going to overtime.
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson paced Minnesota with 22 points while making five 3-pointers. Cade Tyson followed with 15 points while Langston Reynolds chipped in 11. Crocker-Johnson and Tyson had eight rebounds each.
A Reynolds layup drew the Golden Gophers to within 56-55 with 10:22 to play. The Fighting Illini responded with a 10-0 run, sparked by 3s from Zvonimir Ivisic and Mirkovic.
Illinois went cold after that, though, as Minnesota scored the next seven points. But the Fighting Illini regrouped, leading by as many as 12 down the stretch while holding the Golden Gophers without a field goal for 3:05. Isaac Asuma stopped the drought with a trey with 2:12 to go.
Illinois closed the first half on a 2-for-12 slump from the floor, part of a 34.3% effort in the first 20 minutes. The second of those makes, a Mihailo Petrovic jumper, tied the game at 34 just before halftime.
Crocker-Johnson led all scorers with 17 first-half points on 6-for-9 shooting, including 4-for-7 from long range. Zvonimir Ivisic paced Illinois with 13 points, while Wagler followed with nine.
Illinois outrebounded Minnesota 24-17 before the break, including an 11-6 edge on the offensive glass, but the hosts struggled to capitalize.
Both teams scored 11 second-chance points in the first half, with the Golden Gophers producing three of their seven treys off offensive rebounds. A Kai Shinholster trey after the Fighting Illini missed an opportunity to convert their own putback gave Minnesota its largest lead at 32-26 before intermission.
Illinois’ Andrej Stojakovic scored seven points to eclipse 1,000 for his career. He previously played at Cal and Stanford.
Mirkovic had eight rebounds.
–Field Level Media
