Really nice response to being down 5 in the second half. Isaiah hit a big 3 out of the timeout, then made a sweet no look pass to Murphy for a dunk. Those two plays sandwiched a Gabe 3 and it didn't really feel like the Gophers looked back from that point on. Was impressed with the Barn crowd giving Isaiah a nice ovation when he came out for a blow later in the half.
I see people talking about the NET rankings and I agree with most of the sentiments. I don't know what Underwood was doing late it the game and they just announced that he won't be at the press conference after the game on BTN. That game was over and Minnesota was perfectly content just whittling down the shot clock every possession from about the 5 minute mark on. Illinois just refused to let us do that and there was just a parade of whistles on both sides. Someone could get hurt in a game that was already over trying to lose by less than 10 or prevent a team from winning by 10. The other issue is that this should have been a game where guys like Jarvis and Michael and Matz should have been on the floor at the end with possibly Rudrud and Conroy. Depriving the deep bench/walk ons from playing time is a ridiculous consequence to the emphasis on efficiency and winning margin. It's also a bad product for the fans both in the arena and watching on TV. There was no reason for the last 5 minutes or so of that game to take 30 minutes (or whatever it was) in real time.
This team seems to be finding a new level on the offensive end. The top 7 of this team is pretty strong, I'd love to have just one more guy capable of playing somewhere between the 1-3.