The Minnesota Golden Gophers looked for their second straight win on Saturday evening at Williams Arena but the No. 23 Illinois Fighting Illini had other ideas.

Despite getting out to an early lead, leading 9-2 in the opening minutes, the Golden Gophers were unable to keep up with the Fighting Illini who had a strong shooting night. Illinois shot 63% from the floor including 56.3% from three-point range for the game.

Illinois forward Will Riley led all scorers in the game with 27 points including 19 second-half points while Illini starting guard Kasparas Jakucionis was brilliant on Saturday night with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting he also had four rebounds and four assists.

The Gophers did not get their usual high-scoring effort out of star forward Dawson Garcia who was kept to just 12 points in the loss on 4-of-14 shooting but did see Lu'Cye Patterson and Femi Okdukale finish with 24 and 22 points respectively.

No other Gopher in the loss finished with more than six points.

It was a game that the Gophers significantly struggled within the paint, getting outrebounded 38-26 while also being outscored 50-26 down low. It was a performance that the Gophers' forwards will one to forget.

It was a game that got off to a great start for the Gophers, they hit on each of their first three attempts, all three-pointers, and found themselves leading 9-2 in the opening 76 seconds. The Gophers would be able to maintain the lead for the six minutes but at the 13:57 mark of the first half, the Illini would the game at 16-16 and take the lead 53 seconds later.

Illinois would never relinquish the lead after that point.

After starting the game by making six of their first nine attempts, the Gophers made just seven of their next 22 the rest of the first half. Despite the struggles in the back half of the first half, the Gophers still were able to muster up a quality 35 points in the first half.

However, Illinois after missing five straight shots in little less than two minutes the Illini would find their groove and finish the first half making nine of their last 11 attempts, allowing them to take a 46-35 lead into halftime.

Minnesota would hope for a second-half comeback and after going down 16 in the opening minute of the second half, used a 6-0 run to cut the lead down to 10 points.

But it would be all for not, as the Illini over the next few minutes, slowly built back their lead. The Gophers shot just 38.9% in the second half, standing no chance against the hot-handed Fighting Illini who made 19-of-26 second-half attempts including 6-of-10 three-point attempts en route to handing the Gophers a 95-74 loss.

With the loss, Minnesota is now 12-12 including 4-9 in Big Ten play. The Gophers will return to action next Saturday when they face the USC Trojans in Los Angeles as part of a two-game road trip. The Gophers will also face UCLA on Tuesday, February 18 in Westwood.

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