The Illinois Fighting Illini basketball team (16-5, 8-2 Big Ten) continued their winning streak, now at seven games, as they dropped the Minnesota Gophers (11-10, 5-6 Big Ten) 59-51 at State Farm Center.  

The Illini now sit in a first place-tie with the Spartans of Michigan State, and have their best start to Big Ten play since the 2004-2005 season, where the team went 15-1 in conference play. 

Andres Feliz led the Illini in scoring with 17 points, as Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu added 13 points each as well.   

In a low scoring game that saw poor shooting, defensive standstills, and false alarm fire drills, the Illini were able to preserve a win over an underrated Gopher team. The Illini only had five players reach scoring figures, as the remaining four players went 0-9 for the game. 

The team also struggled from beyond the arc shooting an abysmal 3-15. While Illinois had better shooting percentages than Minnesota, neither team really deserved to take home a victory in this fight. 

“Well, that was ugly,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said. “You have to give Minnesota credit, though. They played us tough.” 

The threat of David Oturu was on the minds of Illinois all game long, as at a flip of a switch Oturu can tear your defense apart. The sophomore was Cockburn’s biggest challenge to date, but as Cockburn was able to handle his own and stop Oturu half the time, that allowed the Illini to take advantage. 

The game saw a series of scoring runs, as late in the first half Trent Frazier hit back-to-back three to give the Fighting Illini the lead, and a series that saw the Gophers never lead again in the game. Minnesota came close in the final stages of the second half, where they went on a 7-0 scoring run of the their own that brought the Illinois lead to one point. 

The ultimate savior for the Illini was an impressive night on the defensive end, where the team stepped up in the last three minutes to halt the Gophers run and pull away with the victory. Da’Monte Williams was the man that single-handedly put the Illini on his back and stopped the Gophers scoring run. 

“Just a happy moment, we got the win,” Williams told the media postgame.  

In response to Williams efforts in the latter stages of the game, Underwood showed appreciation in a way that may make his wife a tad jealous. 

“When you look at our stat sheets a lot of the times, you may not see the most glaring numbers for Da’Monte and I told him in the locker room that I won’t kiss my wife tonight because I’m going to kiss you and I kissed him right on the forehead,” said Underwood. 

“He’s bought into his role. That’s why we’re good. That’s why we’ve been able to win some games. It’s the identity of roles and guys being great at their roles, not being good at their roles but trying to become great at them.” 

While Williams was unable to score a point for the Illini, his defensive efforts are enough to continue the team’s hot streak in conference play. 

The Fighting Illini now look to their next tough challenge, as they travel to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes at 12 p.m. on Feb. 2 at Carver Arena.