Andre Hollins lifted his head toward the rafters, beat his chest and let out the kind of whoop that's been absent from maroon-and-gold clad players recently.
Fouled after a long, two-point jumper, the senior guard ultimately missed the free throw.
But it didn't matter.
The damage — started and sustained by Hollins' 28-point, five-assist, two-block performance — had been done. The Gophers led by 14 with 3:30 to go, and the announced crowd of 13,421 on hand to see former center Randy Breuer's jersey retired was swelling.
With momentum on their side, the Gophers put up one of their most physical halves of the season and avoided the usual last-minute dramatics that have characterized their other conference games. Behind a 23-5 run that turned a three-point deficit into a 15-point lead, they pushed past Illinois 79-71 at Williams Arena on Saturday.
Hollins only got better down the stretch. A monster second-half gave Mo Walker (12 points, 13 rebounds) just the second double-double of his career. And Nate Mason hit four free throws in the final two minutes to close out the Gophers' second victory in three games after ending a five-game losing streak.
"I think it was the toughest we've played," coach Richard Pitino said. "I thought we really, really battled ... When you lose, you've got to block out all the noise and you've just got to get tighter as a group and I think we did that."
A sloppy late stretch — the Gophers (13-8, 2-6 Big Ten) fouled five times and had four turnovers in the final 3:13 — brought back memories of recent games in which late leads turn into losses. It also inspired DeAndre Mathieu to pull Walker aside.
