Minnesota Basketball: Gophers Game at Illinois Tuesday Night Postponed

The Minnesota Gophers and the Big Ten announced Monday afternoon that the Gophers game at Illinois slated for Tuesday night has been postponed due to COVID in the Minnesota program. The Big Ten requires a minimum of seven scholarship players to be able to play a game. Minnesota was down to eight as of their most recent game a 81-46 loss to Maryland Saturday night.

The Gophers made the decision after practice on Monday. The Gophers were hopeful that Dawson Garcia may have been able to return from his leg injury that has kept him out the past four games, but it appears he would not be able to go, and thus the Gophers would be short of the required number of available players.

Minnesota and Illinois will work together to try and reschedule the game for a time that works for both teams. Minnesota’s next game is slated to be Sunday at Noon when Iowa comes to the Barn.

Looking at both the Gophers and Illini schedules for the rest of the season, the two most logical dates that allow at least one day off on either side for both teams would be Monday February 20th or Tuesday February 28th. Illinois plays at Indiana at 11 AM on February 18th, the the Gophers host Penn State at 8 PM that night. The Illini are not slated to play again until the 23rd when they host Northwestern while the Gophers next game would be the 22nd at Maryland.

For the second potential date, Minnesota plays at Nebraska at 2:30 on Saturday the 25th, and their next game is at home against Rutgers on March 2nd. Illinois plays at Ohio State at 11 AM Sunday the 26th, and then not again until they host Michigan on March 2nd.

As soon as a rescheduled date is known, we will post an update.

***UPDATE***

The game has already been rescheduled and will now take place Monday February 20th at 8 PM. A TV designation will be assigned at a later date. Minnesota will now play a brutal four games in seven days starting at Michigan State on 2/15, Penn State at home on 2/18, at Illinois on 2/20 and at Maryland on 2/22.