Gophers men’s basketball team crashes hard at home against No. 23 Illinois

Heavy snow didn’t keep fans from packing Williams Arena early Saturday evening for what Gophers coach Ben Johnson hoped would be another marquee home win for his Gophers men’s basketball team despite a below-.500 Big Ten record.

The Gophers had beaten ranked Michigan and Oregon, but Illinois was arguably the best team they had faced this season.

NBA scouts were on hand to watch Illini freshmen Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley, projected first-round picks.

Dawson Garcia has looked like a pro, too, this season, but Saturday he and the Gophers were severely overmatched in a 95-74 loss to No. 23 Illinois in front of an announced crowd of 10,091.

Lu’Cye Patterson scored 24 points and Femi Odukale had 22, both season highs, for the Gophers (12-12, 4-9 Big Ten). But Riley scored 27 points and Jakucionis 24 for the Big Ten’s top-scoring offense in league games. Between them they made 19 of 31 shots for the Illini, who scored 49 points on 73% shooting in the second half.

“That just shows you how much firepower they’ve got,” Johnson said. “There’s a reason why a lot of those guys are on NBA draft boards. That’s one of the more talented teams I’ve seen in a while. You can’t just key on one guy.”

Illinois (16-8, 8-6) executed its defensive game plan, using size and length to limit Garcia, who was held to 12 points on 4-for-14 shooting.

The Gophers got their crowd going early with three straight three-pointers to jump ahead 9-2, but Illinois didn’t flinch and had a 46-35 halftime lead.

In the second half, the Gophers tried to get the margin under double figures and got close when Patterson made it 61-50 at the 12:14 mark, but Jakucionis and Riley sparked Illinois on a 27-11 run.

A 6-6 Lithuania native, Jakucionis has deep shooting range, but he also showed off his shiftiness, ballhandling and nifty layup skills, scoring effortlessly off the dribble, including over the outstretched hands of the 6-11 Garcia and off the glass.

Riley, a 6-8 forward from Ontario, wouldn’t be outdone by Jakucionis. A former five-star recruit, he scored 11 of his team’s 15 points during one stretch, including two three-pointers and an old-fashioned three-point play that made it 91-63 before Minnesota fans started to leave.

Patterson, who shot 9-for-17 from the field and 6-for-6 on free throws, said it’s painful “when you know your defense is better than what it is. They didn’t feel us today at all. I didn’t feel that from probably anybody, including myself.”

Odukale, who went 8-for-17 from the field and 4-for-6 from long range, tried to keep the score respectable for the Gophers early in the second half. So did Patterson, who scored 13 of his 24 points in the second half. But it came down to defense.

Tomislav Ivisic, who was questionable to play for Illinois because of an ankle injury, was a big factor, using his length at 7-1 against Garcia. He helped in other ways, too, finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

“This hurts a lot,” Odukale said. “A couple possessions I felt like I could’ve stopped them with my defense and given extra effort. Just got to be better and look forward to the next one.”

In Tuesday’s 69-61 win at Penn State, reserve guard Brennan Rigsby had 14 points, but he was scoreless Saturday, and the Gophers were outscored 36-8 off the bench.

After back-to-back victories over ranked teams at home during a three-game winning streak last month, the Gophers have consecutive losses at Williams Arena, including 71-68 against Washington last weekend. They will try to regroup for their first Los Angeles road trip in the Big Ten against USC on Feb. 15 and UCLA on Feb. 18.

“It’s obviously disappointing,” Johnson said. “But we want to attack these last eight games and finish on a strong note.”