Minnesota @ Illinois preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 30, 2019 ) Illinois 75, Minnesota 86

Illinois looks to stay in the hunt for its first Big Ten regular season title since 2005 when it hosts Minnesota on Thursday. The No. 19 Fighting Illini have racked up six consecutive wins, including a thrilling 64-62 victory on the road against Michigan, to move into second place in the conference standings and hope to improve to 12-1 at home by taking care of business against the Golden Gophers before embarking on a daunting five-game gauntlet against Top 25 teams.

“Being the number one team (in the Big Ten) is a different feeling but that’s not enough for us,” Illinois guard Andres Feliz told reporters. “We’re going to keep fighting to try and win it all.” Minnesota fell to .500 in conference play following a 70-52 home loss to 14th-ranked Michigan State on Sunday. The Golden Gophers have dropped three games in the month of January to leave their NCAA Tournament hopes hanging in the balance, and hope to add a quality win to their resume by notching two straight road victories in conference play for the first time in more than three years. “We just have to try to do the best job that we can of just playing solid for 40 minutes and playing as hard as we can,” Minnesota point guard Marcus Carr told reporters. “We have to watch all of the film and focus on what Illinois does well and try to take that away.”

TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: Fox Sports 1

ABOUT MINNESOTA (11-9, 5-5 Big Ten): Daniel Oturu scored a game-high 19 points and corralled six rebounds but it wasn’t enough as the Golden Gophers shot a season-low 28.1 percent from the field in the loss to Michigan State. Gabe Kalscheur added 15 points, four rebounds and a pair of steals while Carr produced 11 points, seven boards and six assists, but the two players shot a combined 7-of-26 from the floor, including 4-of-16 from 3-point range against the Spartans. “We need to get better at making shots as we’re a much better shooting team than that,” Minnesota coach Richard Pitino told reporters. “It was really hard to get into a rhythm.”

ABOUT ILLINOIS (15-5, 7-2): Ayo Dosunmu poured in a career-high 27 points, including the game-winning jumper with 0.5 seconds remaining, and pulled down seven rebounds to power the Fighting Illini past Michigan in Ann Arbor for the first time since Feb. 23, 2010. Feliz added 15 points and seven boards while Trent Frazier scored 10 points as Illinois matched its win total from last season in conference play. Kofi Cockburn was named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Week for the seventh time this season after he averaged 13.5 points, nine rebounds and 1.5 blocked shots in wins over Purdue (79-62) and Michigan.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Dosunmu is averaging 19.2 points over his last five games.

2. Oturu was tied for eighth nationally entering Wednesday in rebounds per game (11.3).

3. Cockburn leads all Big Ten freshmen is points per game (14.5) and rebounds (9.4).

PREDICTION: Illinois 79, Minnesota 71