The Minnesota Golden Gophers were unable to pick up their third top-25 upset of the season on Saturday evening, falling to the No. 23 Illinois Fighting Illini 95-74. The Golden Gophers were unable to keep up a hot start while Illinois shot 63% for the game, and were virtually unstoppable in the second half.

85.7%... There are only a few positive takeaways from Saturday's loss, but one of them would be that the Gophers shot 85.7% from the free throw line in the loss, making 12-of-14 attempts.

77.7% ... At the 8:41 mark of the first half, Minnesota was down just 24-22. However, from the 8:11 mark, onward, the Fighting Illini refused to miss, making 27 of their last 36 attempts, a 77.7% shooting percentage.

50 ... One game after being dominant in the paint against Penn State, the Golden Gophers stood no chance against the Illini in the paint, where they allowed 50 of the Illini's 95 points.

27 ... No answers. The Gophers had no answers for Illinois forward Will Riley who led all scorers with 27 points, making 11-of-17 attempts. He also had nine rebounds.

-25 ... It was a rough day for Gophers star forward Dawson Garcia who was just 4-for-14 in the loss and finished with 12 points. When on the court, the Gophers were -25 in the boxscore, tied for the worst for any Gopher alongside Femi Odukale, who was -25 despite having 22 points, second best on the team.

24 ... Lu'Cye Patterson had his best performance as a Gopher and the second-best of his collegiate career on Saturday with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, he was also 6-for-6 at the free throw line. Patterson's best performance came in 2023, a 27-point day for Charlotte against East Carolina.

21 ... The Fighting Illini moved the ball around consistently on Saturday evening with 21 assists on their 36 made-shot attempts. That is tied for Illinois's second-most assists in a game this season and their best against a conference opponent.

-12 ... Like in the paint, the Gophers were dominated on the boards on Saturday night, being outrebounded 38-26 in the loss including 28-13 when it came to defensive rebounds.

3 ... To end this on a positive note, the Gophers in the loss had just three turnovers on Saturday. That is their second-best performance this season when it comes to turnovers, only behind their 59-56 win against Yale in November in which they only had two turnovers.

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