Illinois Turns Up The Offense In Victory Against Minnesota In High-Scoring Game

Illinois coach Brad Underwood decided to flip one of the oldest, most popular adages in the history of sports.

He had no choice to after the Illini's 105-97 victory against the Minnesota Golden Gophers Wednesday at State Farm Center. This game was all about offense. Not much defense.

"Offense is at a premium," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "You have to be able to score to win games. The old cliche, offense wins games, defense win championships. Tonight, offense won the game."

Both teams shot above 60 percent from the field. The Gophers made 14 of 20 3-pointers. In the end, it was just too much Terrence Shannon and Marcus Domask.

Shannon finished with a team-high 29 points for the Illini while Domask had 22. Coleman Hawkins also had his second straight strong game, finishing with 20 points. He was coming off a career-high 30 points last week against Iowa.

“People think the Big Ten is a big, slow, slug ‘em out league. It’s not,” Underwood said. “We have Zach (Purdue's 7-foot-4 Zach Edey), but this a guard league. The best guards I've seen in our league since I've been here. You have to score to win in our league."

The Illini improved to 21-7 overall and 12-5 in the Big Ten. They still remain two games behind second-ranked Purdue for the top spot. They each have three conference games left, including their matchup Tuesday in Champaign.

The Illini return to action Saturday at Wisconsin.

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Illini Now. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com