(Champaign, IL) — Andres Feliz scored 27 points while Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn added 13 each as No. 19 Illinois held on to beat Minnesota 59-51 on Thursday night. It was the seventh consecutive win for the Fighting Illini (16-5, 8-2 Big Ten). They moved into a first-place tie with No. 14 Michigan State in the Big Ten.
The Gopher men fell at Illinois on Thursday night and now sit at 11-10 overall and 5-6 in the Big Ten.
Daniel Oturu led the Golden Gophers (11-10, 5-6) with a game-high 20 points and Alihan Demir added eight. Both teams shot poorly. The Illini shot 33% and Minnesota made 32% of its attempts from the field. Minnesota rallied from a seven-point deficit with three minutes to play to pull within one point with 1:43 left on Orturu’s layup. Giorgi Bezhanishvili was fouled with 1:30 left and made both free throws. Feliz later made two free throws to help seal the win.