Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen to miss Thursday's game due to illness

Shimmy Gray-Miller's goal is for everything to be as seamless as possible.

Gray-Miller is the Gophers women's basketball team's associate head coach. But Thursday, when the Gophers host Eastern Illinois at Williams Arena at 3 p.m., she will be in charge.

Head coach Lindsay Whalen will miss the game due to illness. Recovering at home, Whalen will return when medically cleared. She'll have some time; Minnesota doesn't play again until resuming Big Ten Conference play at Maryland Dec. 30.

"I don't want anybody's life to be disrupted," Gray-Miller said. "Not the players, not the other assistant coaches. My goal is to keep all the other assistants' roles the same."

Gray-Miller has extensive experience coaching in the Power Five conferences in her two-decade career, with stints as an assistant at Arizona, Washington, Nebraska, Florida, Texas Tech and Clemson.

Gray-Miller was head coach at St. Louis University from 2005-12.

Normally Whalen and assistant Kelly Curry primarily run the offense, while Gray-Miller and Marwan Miller run the defense. It turns out Curry was the assistant primarily involved in scouting Eastern Illinois.

"Lindsay prepared us for this," Gray-Miller said. "What she has done better than any other head coach I've worked for is she really involves her assistants in everything day-to-day. So the players have heard my voice a lot, as well as Kelly's and Marwan's. It should minimize the distraction."

This is the first game for the Gophers since a victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee Dec. 14. The Gophers took a day off, returned for individual workouts on Friday, then had the weekend off, returning to practice Monday.

This is the last nonconference game for the Gophers, who are 7-5 overall, 1-1 in conference play. Minnesota has won two straight.

"I think Coach Whalen has done a good job of letting the assistants talk and communicate with us," guard Katie Borowicz said. "I think what people will see [Thursday] is a great coach. Very animated, good at getting to the point."

This is the second time a medical issue has temporarily sidelined Whalen. She missed two games in early January this year after undergoing an emergency appendectomy. Then-assistant Carly Thibault-DuDonis coached the Gophers in a 62-49 victory at Rutgers and an 87-73 loss at Maryland.