Minnesota Basketball: Three keys to winning at Illinois and how to watch

Champaign

8:00 PM

BTN

Illinois

Illinois Fighting Illinis

Record: 17-9 (8-7)
KenPom Rank: 25

The Gophers have lost 9 in a row, can they avoid a double-digit losing streak?

KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN

Score more points than Illinois - Maybe we need to simplify things. Maybe this means holding them to fewer points, maybe it means just scoring a bunch of points. But the key to winning is to have the most points.

Shoot well from three - Interesting that in the first matchup the Gophers didn’t really turn the ball over, but they shot 23% from three. How about a hot-shooting night?

Start figuring it out - This team is getting worse, maybe they are just cruise-control till the end of the season, but at some point it would be great to see them have a lightbulb go off and start to play well. Especially the young guys.

PREDICTION

I think the Gophers dominate and win by 19. Just kidding, they will lose and it likely won’t be close. Illinois will dominate inside and the Gophers will take a lot of bad shots trying to shoot their way back into it.

It won’t go well.

Minnesota - 63
Illinois- 77