Illinois had to travel to Minnesota to find the offense it lost in Hawaii.
Junior guard Trent Meacham led the Illini with 19 points Tuesday night as Illinois rolled to an 84-60 victory over Minnesota.
Meacham made his first six shots, five of them from three-point range, as the Illini ran their offense and hit their open shots with a precision not seen since a Maui Invitational victory over Arizona State in which they took a 20-0 lead.
Meacham finished 6-for-7 shooting, including all five of this threes, and 2 of 2 from the line.
Illinois shot a season-best 58.8 percent from the floor (30 of 51). The Illini’s previous best was 57.4, going 27 of 47 in the victory over Arizona State.
The victory was the Illini’s 18th straight over Minnesota, the longest current streak by one Big Ten school over another, dating back to 1999. It was the Illini’s eighth straight triumph at Williams Arena.
The Illini (11-14, 3-9) snapped a three-game losing streak. Minnesota (15-8, 5-6) had won two in a row over Northwestern and Iowa. The Illini had lost six straight road games since a 79-77 victory at Hawaii on Nov. 16.
Illinois went on a 9-0 run early in the second half to take a 48-35 lead and control of the game against the Gophers. Meacham scored eight points in the run, including consecutive three-pointers.
Meacham kept pouring it on, and his three-pointer with 10:31 left gave Illinois a 58-39 lead and prompted a Minnesota timeout.
In their first season under coach Tubby Smith, the Gophers are playing an up-tempo, aggressive game, putting the pressure on ballhandlers.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber stayed with a three-guard lineup he opened with last week against Indiana, with Chester Frazier joining Meacham and Demetri McCamey in the starting group.
On Tuesday night it worked early as the Illini made their first three shots, taking a 7-2 lead on Frazier’s basket.
Foul trouble popped up early for Illinois as forward Brian Randle picked up his second barely four minutes into the game. Calvin Brock replaced him, and he didn’t return until the second half. Randle then picked up his third foul on a charge just 38 seconds into the period. He picked up his fourth foul with 14:36 left in the game.
Center Shaun Pruitt had his way inside, and his tip-in with 7:50 left in the first half gave him eight points and Illinois a 26-15 lead. But he landed wrong and suffered an ankle injury on the play. He missed less than two minutes, then went to the bench with 5:54 left in the half after committing his second foul.
That meant more playing time for freshman center Mike Tisdale. Weber had said he wanted to get Tisdale and fellow freshman Mike Davis and Jeff Jordan more playing time, and all saw action in the game’s first 10 minutes.
Davis made his presence felt with consecutive baskets to give Illinois a 32-22 lead.
When McCamey followed with a three-pointer that boosted the Illini’s shooting percentage to 60 percent and gave them a 35-24 lead, Smith called a timeout at the 3:39 to stop the run.
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tabannon@tribune.com
