Gophers to Honor Five Seniors on Thursday against Illinois

MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota (12-16, 5-11 B1G) returns home for the final time this season for a matchup with Illinois on Thursday at 7 p.m. The game can be streamed on B1G+ and fans can also listen to the game on KFAN+ with Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist on the call.

ABOUT THIS GAME

Illinois enters Thursday at Minnesota with an overall record of 6-17 (1-11 B1G), and will be looking to snap a nine-game skid, overall, and secure the teams first win away from State Farm Center this season.
Thursday's game with the Fighting Illini is the only time the two teams will meet during the regular season. The last time the two teams faced off was on Feb. 10, 2021, when Minnesota won by 10 at Williams Arena. In the win Sara Scalia scored 20 points while Kadi Sissoko scored 16 points with the Gophers shooting 48.1 percent from the floor and registering 20 assists on the team's 26 made field goals.
Offensively, the Illini have posted an improved scoring average from last season. Through 23 games, the Illini are averaging 64.30 points per game, an improvement of nearly five points per game over last year's season average of 59.6 ppg.
Leading scorer, sophomore G Aaliyah Nye, ranks 19th in the Big Ten with a scoring average of 12.04 ppg, an improvement of nearly four points per game from her freshman campaign (8.1 ppg).
Illinois has two Minnesotans on its roster in junior Solape Amusan from Woodbury and Woodbury HS. The other being Adalia McKenzie from Brooklyn Pakr, Minn. at Park Center high School.
Sophomore F Kendall Bostic is the top rebounder in the Big Ten Conference and enters play this week ranked 10th nationally at 11.7 rebounds per game. Bostic, who has recorded five double-doubles on the year, is on pace to become just the sixth Illini in program history with 300 rebounds in a single season.

GOPHER NOTABLES

Last time out Minnesota took on Nebraska in Lincoln on Feb. 20, falling to the Cornhuskers 93-70 at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Sara Scalia led the Gophers on the offensive end with 22 points while Kadi Sissoko added 14 off the bench. The team shot 44.1 percent from the floor, but made a season-low two threes in the loss while attempting just nine from beyond the arc.
Sara Scalia extended her double figures scoring streak to 18 with her performance against Rutgers. Scalia is one of four players in the Big Ten that have active double-figures scoring streaks of at least 18 games. During the streak Scalia has averaged 20.1 points per game and is shooting 43.4 percent from three (66-of-152) and has averaged 3.7 made threes per game. This season Scalia ranks 10th in the Big Ten in scoring average (17.3) and is eighth during Big Ten play at 18.8 points per game.
As a team this season Minnesota has the second-best three-point field goal percentage in the Big Ten at 37.7 which is also good enough for eighth best in the NCAA. On average the Maroon and Gold make 8.3 threes per game, good enough for the 26th best mark in the nation and the third best in the conference. In total the team's 233 made threes are the most in the Big Ten and the 13th most in the country.
After playing some of her best basketball off the bench, Laura Bagwell Katalinich, a Minneapolis, Minn., native stepped into the starting lineup for the first time against Michigan State (2/6). In her last seven games she's averaged 20 minutes per game and has been making impact plays all over. During that span she's averaged 9.4 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 49.0 percent from the floor.
In the team's last three wins, compared to the Gophers' last four losses in the 3-4 stretch, a direct corelation can be made with the rebounding battle. Minnesota has won all three games they have won the battle on the glass, and lost the rest where they were outrebounded. In wins, Minnesota held a +20 advantage on the glass versus a +36 for their opponents in losses.
Guard Deja Winters has continued to show why she is one of the Big Ten's most impactful grad transfers this season. Averaging 11.9 points per game. Winters has bumped up her efficiency the last five games, shooting at a 48.1 rate from the floor, up from her 43.1 percent on the season. Winters also has been the Gophers best on-ball defender this season. Her 29 total steals (2.0 per game) during conference play is fifth in the Big Ten this season and her 28 total blocks (1.0 per game) this year are good enough for the eighth most in the conference.
Minnesota head coach Lindsay Whalen took another step toward the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Feb. 18, as the museum announced its finalists for the Class of 2022 that included the former Golden Gopher standout, WNBA great and Olympic gold medalist.

BY THE NUMBERS
233 - At 233 made threes this season the Gophers are just 5 behind the 2019-20 team for the third most in a single season (since 1987-88).
18 - Sara Scalia has scored in double figures in 18 straight games, the longest streak of her career.
8 - Eight different times this season a Gopher has scored 12 or more points in a single quarter including four times by Sara Scalia and three times by Deja Winters.
28 - Sara Scalia became the 28th student-athlete to reach 1,000 career points while playing at the University of Minnesota, joining Deja Winters this season.
577 - Minnesota's five seniors being honored on Thursday have played a combined 577 games in their career.
2 - Sara Scalia now has made the second most threes in a single Big Ten season, the most is 75 by Rachel Banham (2015-16).

Minnesota's regular season finale is on the road against Penn State (11-15, 5-11 B1G) on Feb. 27. The game will tip at 1 p.m. CT and can be seen on B1G+ and also can be heard on KFAN+.

For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota women's basketball on Twitter and Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2021-22 season.

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Players Mentioned

Laura Bagwell Katalinich

Sara Scalia

Kadi Sissoko

Deja Winters