Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-7, 3-3 Big Ten) at Illinois Fighting Illini (14-3, 5-1 Big Ten)
Champaign, Illinois; Saturday, 12 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: No. 13 Illinois plays Minnesota after Keaton Wagler scored 22 points in Illinois’ 79-68 victory against the Northwestern Wildcats.
The Fighting Illini have gone 8-1 at home. Illinois is 0-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.
The Golden Gophers are 3-3 in conference play. Minnesota is 1-2 in games decided by less than 4 points.
Illinois averages 85.6 points, 18.8 more per game than the 66.8 Minnesota gives up. Minnesota scores 5.6 more points per game (73.1) than Illinois gives up to opponents (67.5).
The Fighting Illini and Golden Gophers meet Saturday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: David Mirkovic is averaging 12 points and 8.4 rebounds for the Fighting Illini. Wagler is averaging 2.7 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Cade Tyson is averaging 21.1 points and 5.4 rebounds for the Golden Gophers. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson is averaging 12.9 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Fighting Illini: 8-2, averaging 79.3 points, 35.9 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 3.5 steals and 5.1 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 65.9 points per game.
Golden Gophers: 6-4, averaging 73.0 points, 28.9 rebounds, 20.2 assists, 7.3 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 46.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.4 points.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.