Illini streak comes to thundering halt
To look at the expanded box score from Thursday's loss, click here.
For video highlights of Thursday's loss, click here.
MINNEAPOLIS – As Minnesota coach Tubby Smith left the court Thursday, he was greeted with a handshake.
"Way to break that streak!" former Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said.
Now, the Illini must hope a whipping at Williams Arena doesn't break their spirits.
No. 19 Illinois was drubbed by Minnesota 59-36. It was the Illini's largest margin of defeat in Bruce Weber's five-plus seasons at Illinois.
The streak on Saunders' mind – everyone's mind, actually – was the 20-game winning streak Illinois had built against Minnesota. That, too, ended with a thud.
"It was gonna end some time," Weber said.
"To break this 20-game winning streak is really a burden off our chest," Smith allowed.
Illinois (17-4, 5-3 Big Ten) almost set records with its offensive ineptitude. The Illini rivaled the fewest points an Illinois team scored in a defeat (31, in a loss to Minnesota in 1947).
So thorough was the beatdown that players couldn't explain how the Big Ten's most efficient offense shot 29.4 percent (15 for 51) from the field. Illinois entered the game shooting 47.9 percent, tops in the league.
"Hopefully it's a wakeup call for us," said senior Trent Meacham, who had seven points.
"It's kind of hard to say what happened," said junior Dominique Keller, who had a team-high nine points. "You've got to give them credit. They wanted it more, and they took it. I'm just embarrassed that we didn't come out here and take advantage of our opportunity."
The last time Minnesota (18-3, 6-3) beat Illinois – a 75-63 win on Feb. 3, 1999 – Smith was in his second season as Kentucky's coach. The last time Weber lost a game by at least 20 points at Illinois was, well, never. His previous worse loss was a 70-51 defeat to Providence on Dec. 9, 2003, six games into his tenure.
"To be special, it takes courage and toughness. Right now we're good, but are we going to be special?" Weber said. "Tonight we weren't, that's for sure."
What happened
Illinois endured the worst loss of Bruce Weber’s tenure and watched its 20-game winning streak against Minnesota come to a close. In Weber’s first season, on Dec. 9, 2003, Providence whipped Illinois 70-51. The Gophers’ 23-point beatdown topped it.
What it means
“The law of averages,” as Tubby Smith said, meant the Illini’s dominance in the series eventually would end. But no one expected it would end with such a thud. The folks in Vegas pegged the game affair as a “Pick ‘em” matchup, and the Gophers picked on the Illini.
What the Illini said
“I’m just embarrassed that we came in here and did what we did.” — forward Dominique Keller, who had a team-high nine points
What the Gophers said
“OVER-RATED! OVER-RATED!” — Gophers student section to the 19th-ranked Illini
What’s next
Iowa (12-9, 2-6 Big Ten) visits the Assembly Hall on Sunday (1 p.m., Big Ten Network). Bruce Weber called it “the most important game of the year” for Illinois, which hasn’t dropped consecutive games since Feb. 20 of last season. But Iowa hasn’t won in C-U since 1999.
Please Bruce..special???? this team will never be special or even very good ....start emphasizing some offense and some rebounding toughness or all your screaming the entire game will be for nothing....the worst regular season loss since the Ohio State game in 05 is hopefully a wakeup call for you,that SOMETHING isnt being done the way that is necessary to build a winning program that is in the top echelon of college basketball year in and year out....last night was an embarrassment to Illini basketball tradition !
weisenbarf, if that is your real name. Are you actually an Illinois fan? You do know we already have 2 great recruiting classes lined up. The team is 17-4. My guess is that you didn't post after the 17 victories. While I'm disappointed in the teams play last night, I think that throwing the team under the bus after that game is an embarrassment. Let's see how they bounce back and play the rest of the season.
phalic,I wonder if you had heard of Alex Legion ,,,have you seen the way Weber handles him?? The most talked about recruit in years other than Gordon and he rides the bench most of the time while our other guards do almost nothing on offense or defense...so blah blah about recruits being high school stars is one thing,being capable of success in the Big 10 is another ( in case you hadnt noticed)...and IF you knew anything about Illini basketball,you realize most of those 17 wins came against cupcakes or at home,except for Purdue..and before you make juvenile insults of bloggers names,check your facts,,I have made continuing criticisms ( the defense at Michigan State was terrible) while they were running up mostly easy 17 wins..AND I praised Bruce and the team for a great victory at Purdue...unfortunately,it looks like that will be their only road victory in the conference
My original post was juvenile and I have never done that before, but my goal was to seek the exact response you gave. Which was to have you criticize me for doing this, and proceed to take the high road and repeat the same behavior you criticize. It speaks volumes.
The rest of your post was better. Thanks for pointing out the the fact that you criticized the team after their loss at Michigan State and many of their other victories. I could probably find fault with some aspect of the teams performance in almost every game, the ones they lose and win, but I prefer to congratulate when they win, hoping they continue to improve.
I would have to agree that if they play like they did last night, they aren't going to win many (or any) road games, but I'm pretty sure this won't occur and they will win some more road games. So if you are a real Illinois fan you will hope you are wrong, rather than hope you are right.
We all obviously hope that this was just a bad night. However, we do need to show some aggressive moves on offense or even Indiana will beat us in Bloomington. They play very aggressive defense, and we, for whatever reason appeared to be shocked at being guarded last night. Dribbling around the perimeter for the first 20 seconds of the shot clock looked like last year.
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