The Gophers experienced a glimpse of what life would be like without guards Kevin Dorsey, Nate Mason and Dupree McBrayer after coach Richard Pitino held them out in an 84-71 loss at Illinois on Sunday.

It was probably much, much, better than expected. And Minnesota still lost by 13 to a team that had managed just four league wins prior, letting a 12-point first-half lead crumble away in the process.

Now, they'll have to forge on without the three guards, who the school on Tuesday announced would be suspended for the remainder of the season. It's unclear whether the suspensions have to do with sexually graphic videos that were posted on the social media pages of Dorsey on Friday night. Media meets with Gophers coach Richard Pitino this evening.

On the court, the obvious shortcoming is the lack of ball handlers. In fact, Mason, McBrayer and Dorsey are the team's only true scholarship guards. Without them, the Gophers basically have to scrap their pick-and-roll-based, hard-driving offense. That's a problem, because it's really been the major silver lining of a season that saw 14 consecutive losses before two wins over Maryland and Rutgers heading into Illinois. The attack of Mason, McBrayer and Dorsey played a major role in the mini turnaround and was a big part of why some Gophers fans saw hints of a bright future beyond the turmoil of this season.

Without those three, the Gophers will have to about-face on both ends of the floor, with less ability to pressure defensively as well. They will have to rely more -- that is, a LOT more -- on walk-on Stephon Sharp once again. Luckily for Minnesota, in his trial run at Illinois, Sharp performed impressively for the most part, leading the offense and finishing with 19 points in 39 minutes after his previous career highs of 10 minutes and three points. Sharp did have seven turnovers, though, and the team had just nine assists to 27 shots (33.3 percent).

The Gophers were also aided by an 8-for-20 (40 percent) showing from beyond the arc with four of those coming from Sharp and two from senior Joey King, who had a strong night as well. And inside, freshman Jordan Murphy was hugely effective early, scoring 17 points in the first half and finishing with 22 points and 10 rebounds, his third consecutive double-double.

To get an upset over red-hot Wisconsin sans those three, Minnesota would need to continue all those trends as well as shore up defensively and likely find another scoring source from among the remainder of the super short rotation -- Bakary Konate, Charles Buggs or Ahmad Gilbert not presenting any likely subjects.

Needless to say, it will be a very big challenge.