CHAMPAIGN — Zvonimir Ivišić had 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench and Keaton Wagler scored 17 points to lead No. 13 Illinois to a 77-67 victory over Minnesota on Saturday.
David Mirković scored 12 points and Tomislav Ivišić 10 for the Illini (15-3, 6-1 Big Ten), who won their seventh straight.
It was the 10th consecutive game that Wagler scored in double figures. He has had at least 16 points in nine of those games.
Andrej Stojaković scored seven points for Illinois, which gave him 1,000 for his career. He played at Stanford and California before joining the Illini this season.
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson scored 22 points and had eight rebounds for the Gophers (10-8, 3-4), who have lost three straight after a five-game winning streak.
Crocker-Johnson scored Minnesota’s first 11 points, including triples on the Gophers’ first two possessions that caused Illinois coach Brad Underwood to call a timeout only 1 minute, 12 seconds into the game.
Cade Tyson had 15 points and eight rebounds for Minnesota before the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer fouled out with 52 seconds left. Langston Reynolds scored 11 points for the Gophers.
The teams were tied 34-34 at halftime, with Illinois shooting only 34% from the field. The Illini erased a 56-55 Minnesota lead midway through the second half with a 10-0 run and never trailed again.
Illinois is off to its best 18-game start since it also went 15-3 to begin the 2011-12 season.
The Illini have won nine in a row against Minnesota in a streak that began in 2019. Saturday’s game was the 200th meeting between the teams. The Illini lead the series 132-68, including 77-19 at home.
Up next
- Illinois: vs. Maryland on Wednesday.
- Minnesota: vs. Ohio State on Tuesday.
