MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Malcolm Hill had 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead a late surge by Illinois to beat Minnesota 76-71 in overtime on Saturday night, ending an eight-game losing streak on the road for the Fighting Illini.
Maverick Morgan added 14 points, Kendrick Nunn scored 13 points and Michael Finke grabbed 16 rebounds for the Illini (10-10, 2-5 Big Ten), who used a 16-0 run that started with 2:03 left in regulation to take over the game.
Joey King had 20 points and Nate Mason added 19 points for the Golden Gophers (6-14, 0-8), who lost their ninth straight game. They tied a program record with 36 attempts from 3-point range, making 11.
Jordan Murphy, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds, made a layup with 4:03 left to give the Gophers a 59-55 lead. But they let the Illini creep back, delighting the members of the Orange Krush student section who took a road trip from Illinois.
The last time Illinois won on the opponent's home floor was Feb. 7, 2015, at Michigan State.
Overtime was no contest. Hill swished a 3-pointer with 3:38 remaining to give the Illini a 65-60 advantage, and the Gophers essentially gave up after that. King's layup with 1:07 left ended a stretch of 7:56 without a basket made by Minnesota from the field.
The Illini streaked their way through this one, with spurts of 13-0 and 6-0 in the first half and then a 10-0 run midway through the second half that pushed their lead to 53-46, their biggest of the game.
Mason put an end to that, making consecutive 3-pointers to get his team right back in it and scoring 11 straight points for the Gophers to give them the lead back. The Illini committed a couple of costly turnovers in the closing minutes and were in dire need of Nunn's clutch 3-pointer with 1:05 left that cut the lead to 60-58.
Nunn fouled Dupree McBrayer, but he missed the one-and-one free throw. Hill sank two foul shots on the other end to tie the game with 32 seconds left, setting up the Gophers for the last possession. Mason had the ball, dribbled the clock down and stepped back for a 3-pointer from the wing that bricked off the rim.
So, despite limiting the Illini to a mere seven points over the last 10-plus minutes of the second half, the Gophers headed to overtime.
This season has been quite the struggle for both of these teams, each carrying a pair of Big Ten losses by 25 points or more and multiple defeats by mid-major foes. Minnesota coach Richard Pitino recently acknowledged he anticipated the year-three rebuilding to be hard but not this bad, and Illinois coach John Groce said this week this has been the toughest season of his career. Both programs are a long way from where they used to be.
Murphy picked up two fouls in the first 3:27, prompting Pitino to pull the freshman and keep him on the bench for almost all of the rest of the first half.
The crowd, which has had so few highlights to savor here this season, gave the Gophers some hearty roars in the early parts of the game as they aggressively shot and moved the ball on their way to building a 24-14 lead. They began to play too loose, though, and the worst-shooting team in the Big Ten was again hindered by its rebounding weakness.
