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On
a night when several Lincoln residents were seen in Champaign cheering for
their hometown hero, Minnesota played the No. 9 Illini tough in the first
half and trailed by just two points at the break. Illinois seemed to be
somewhat lethargic in the opening two quarters and committed 13 turnovers
in the first half alone. They led by only 29-27 at halftime, and Griffin
had 13 of those points.
The
Illini, playing their first game in the Assembly Hall since the Dec. 9
overtime thriller against Seton Hall, played much better in the second
half, extending their two-point lead to 16 midway through the second half.
The difference in the second half appeared to be the aggressiveness of
point guard Frank Williams, who scored nine points during the first eight
minutes of the second half.
Wednesday's
game could be very costly for the Illini (11-3; 1-0), as senior Sergio
McClain played just eight scoreless minutes before sustaining a
game-ending ankle injury. McClain's status for Saturday's home game with
Ohio State was not immediately known. Junior Robert Archibald appeared to
re-injure his ailing back, and the decision on redshirting junior Damir
Krupalijia will be made before Saturday's game.
Coach
Bill Self confirmed the health concerns in his post-game press conference,
acknowledging Illinois is down to seven healthy players in their rotation,
forcing freshmen Brett Melton and Jerrance Howard to play at length on
Wednesday.
[to top of second column
in this article] |
Coach
Self was very excited about the play of Lincoln native Brian Cook. Self
stated that his rebounding was great and his six blocked shots
"really impacted the game."
Cook
shared, "Coach asked each one of us before the game what we would do
to help us win, and I told him rebounding." Brian was true to his
word. Cook appears to be overcoming his early-season slump by posting
three very strong outings in his last four games and earning the Big Ten
player of the week award last week.
Upcoming
Illinois games
Illinois
vs. Ohio State — Saturday, Jan. 6, 7 p.m., WCIA-TV
Illinois
at Iowa — Thursday, Jan. 11, 6:30 p.m., ESPN 2
Illinois
vs. Michigan — Saturday, Jan. 13, 7 p.m., WCIA-TV
Other
Big Ten scores
from Wednesday, Jan. 3
Michigan
State 98, Penn State 73
Ohio
State 73, Northwestern 56
Purdue
80, Michigan 60
[Greg
Taylor]
|
Minnesota
|
|
|
FG |
FT |
reb |
|
|
|
| |
min |
m-a |
m-a |
o-t |
a |
pf |
tp |
|
Bickerstaff
Bauer
Rychart
Simmons
Schilling
Burleson
Fleming
Bennett
Lorang
Wildenborg
Chall
Hagen
Totals |
34
24
32
27
28
10
13
16
1
7
1
7
200 |
2-8
4-7
9-14
4-10
2-8
0-3
1-3
1-1
0-0
0-0
0-0
0-1
23-55 |
2-3
0-0
2-2
0-1
1-1
0-0
9-11
0-0
0-0
0-0
0-0
0-2
14-20 |
2-5
0-1
1-5
0-0
0-1
0-0
1-1
1-4
0-1
0-1
0-0
1-2
6-21 |
4
2
1
1
1
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
13 |
0
2
2
1
0
5
2
3
0
3
0
2
20 |
6
10
21
8
5
0
12
2
0
0
0
0
64 |
Percentages: Fg-.418,
Ft-.700
3-point goals: 4-14, .286 (Bauer 2-4, Rychart 1-2, Simmons
0-3, Schilling 0-1, Burleson 0-2, Fleming 1-2)
Team rebounds: 5
Blocked shots: 4 (Hagen, Bauer, Rychart, Bennett)
Turnovers: 18 (Bickerstaff 6, Rychart 3, Bauer 2, Bennett 2,
Simmons 2, Burleson, Fleming, Schilling)
Steals: 6 (Bauer 2, Bickerstaff, Burleson, Rychart, Simmons)
|
Illinois
|
|
|
FG |
FT |
reb |
|
|
|
| |
min |
m-a |
m-a |
o-t |
a |
pf |
tp |
|
Cook
Mcclain
Griffin
Bradford
Williams
Melton
Mast
Cross
Archibald
Johnson
Harrington
Howard
Totals |
29
8
34
28
32
8
1
2
12
24
19
3
200 |
2-7
0-0
11-15
4-4
5-9
0-5
0-0
0-2
1-4
2-5
2-5
0-0
27-56 |
2-2
0-0
5-5
0-0
5-5
0-0
0-0
0-0
7-10
1-2
0-0
0-0
20-24 |
2-11
1-1
3-7
0-1
0-2
0-0
0-0
1-2
3-5
1-4
0-2
0-0
11-35 |
1
0
1
3
3
0
0
0
0
3
2
0
13 |
3
0
2
3
3
2
0
0
2
3
3
1
22 |
7
0
27
9
16
0
0
0
9
6
6
0
80 |
Percentages: Fg-.482,
Ft-.833
3-point goals: 6-17, .353 (Cook 1-3, Bradford 1-1, Williams 1-2,
Melton 0-4, Cross 0-1, Johnson 1-2, Harrington 2-4)
Team rebounds: 5
Blocked shots: 10 (Cook 6, Griffin 2, Mcclain, Archibald)
Turnovers: 21 (Cook 6, Griffin 5, Bradford 3, Williams 3,
Harrington, Johnson, Mcclain, Melton)
Steals: 6 (Griffin 2, Mcclain 2, Cook, Johnson)
Technical fouls: None
A: 13,840
Officials: Ted Hillary, Mike Sanzere, Jd Collins
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