Payton Willis scored a career-high 21 points on 5-for-7 shooting from 3-point range to lead Minnesota's romp past rival Wisconsin 70-52 on Wednesday night.
The status of quarterback Tanner Morgan is uncertain for 11th-ranked Minnesota's game at Northwestern after back-to-back sacks in the last game put the sophomore in the concussion protocol.
Isaiah Livers scored a career-high 21 points, and Michigan set up a Big Ten title game against No. 6 Michigan State with a 76-49 romp over Minnesota in the semifinals on Saturday.
Jordan Murphy scored 27 points, Amir Coffey added 21 points and Minnesota beat No. 13 Purdue 75-73 on Friday night to advance to the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament.
Though several critical weeks remain in Jordan Murphy's career at Minnesota, the Gophers have already found themselves thinking about how soon their indefatigable big man is going to be gone.
The last time Minnesota played Illinois, the Gophers suffered a loss that could have derailed their season. On Wednesday night, they showed the Illini just how well they've responded.
The ball bounced right to Charles Matthews, who dribbled once and squared up to shoot as the game clock — and more importantly, the shot clock — neared zero.