Gophers sophomore guard Dupree McBrayer described the players-only meeting Monday as "intense" with team leaders frustrated over the current five-game losing streak going into Saturday's game at Illinois.

Minnesota lost another close game last weekend 85-78 to Maryland at home. Players had almost an entire week to think about what is going wrong and how to fix it.

"You can tell that our leaders are fed up with us not doing the little things," McBrayer said. "So they came forward and said, 'Hey, this is what we need to start doing if we want to win, if we want to go to the NCAA tournament, if we want to make a run in the Big Ten tournament. I think all the guys got that message."

Senior captain Akeem Springs and junior captain Nate Mason were the main players speaking their mind during the meeting. They've been the most vocal leaders this season, but their message was definitely heard this time, freshman Eric Curry said.

"I felt like they were telling the truth," Curry said. "So you got to listen. We know all the little things happen, because that's what's beating us right now -- just not boxing out. Things like that. We know we've got to do those things. It was mostly Akeem and Nate. They told us the truth, the facts. You just had to listen and take it like a man."

On his radio show Monday, Gophers coach Richard Pitino put the onus on his players to stop "hijacking the team" with mistakes at the end of games. He elaborated on that point during Friday's press conference.

"Help your teammates out during the course of the game," Pitino said. "That's what my point was. It is on the players. There's only so many timeouts. That's not throwing players under the bus. No, my point is taking ownership of helping each other out during the game. It's going to happen. We're a college basketball team. You're going to make a mistake. Help each other out."

McBrayer said he didn't know if Pitino was aware of the players-only meeting.

"We had it before practice," he said. "And I think he asked where everybody was at because we weren't on the court. We all came out there. So I honestly don't think he knows about it."