Gophers Off to Illinois for Sunday Afternoon Clash

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's basketball team (14-5, 4-4 B1G) will take on Illinois (8-10, 2-6 B1G) in its second straight Big Ten road game on Sunday afternoon. The contest against the Fighting Illini is scheduled to tip at 2 p.m. on B1G+ while Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist will broadcast the game on KFAN+.

GAME INFORMATION
TV/Stream: B1G+
Tip Time: 2:00 p.m. CT.
Radio: KFAN+ (96.7 FM) and the iHeartRadio app (Justin Gaard and Lynnette Sjoquist)

ABOUT THE ILLINOIS GAME

Minnesota and Illinois are meeting for the 73rd time, with Illinois holding a 41-31 advantage in the series that started back in 1974. Minnesota holds a record of 10-25 against the Fighting Illini in the state of Illinois.
The Fighting Illini have dropped two straight after winning two in a row with their latest losses coming to No. 12/12 Ohio State (67-59) and Maryland (90-82). Illinois' last win at home was against Rutgers, a 28-point win. This season out of Illinois' 10 losses, eight have come within nine points.
Individually this season Illinois is led on the offensive end by Genesis Bryant at 14.9 points per game, which is 11th in the Big Ten, while also adding 1.4 steals per game on the defensive end. The team's primary rebounder has once again been Kendall Bostic, who brings down an average of 8.9 boards per contest, which is No. 3 in the conference. On the defensive end Brynn Shoup-Hill has once again been effective with an average of 1.2 blocks per game, which is fifth in the Big Ten this season.
As of Jan. 24, Illinois is the No. 2 team in the Big Ten in turnovers per game at 11.5, which is also top-10 in the nation. The Fighting Illini shoot an elite 45.8 percent from the floor, which is 34th in the country while the team's 75.1 points per game is No. 52 in the nation.
Illinois women's basketball returned 93.4% of its scoring from the 2022-23 season, which is the second-highest percentage across the NCAA. That breaks down to 2,251 of 2,410 points returning for the Illini. In those returners are all five starters from last season and 10 total players. This season, 10 different Illini have scored double digits.

GOPHER NOTABLES

Minnesota suffered a road loss to rival Wisconsin on Tuesday. In the team's fourth game in nine days, the Gophers fell short on the offensive end, with true freshman Grace Grocholski and sophomore Amaya Battle leading Minnesota's attack with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Grocholski hit three triples in the loss while Battle shot 50 percent from the floor (6-of-12) and handed out four assists to just one turnover in 31 minutes. As a team Minnesota took care of the ball with just five turnovers while Mara Braun tied her career high in blocks (3) on the defensive end.
Since 2009, only two Big Ten players have pulled down 15 rebounds and hit five or more threes in any game and against Michigan State sophomore Mallory Heyer became the only player that has done it twice. Heyer's first such game came last season when she had 28 points and 15 rebounds against Wisconsin where she hit 5-of-7 threes. Heyer has averaged 8.3 rebounds in her last six games with 2.5 of those coming on the offensive end. On the offensive end Heyer has been lethal from beyond the arc in the last five games, hitting an average of three shots from the 3-point line per game as opposed to just 1.7 per game in her first 14 games.
The Big Ten announced that Grace Grocholski was named the latest Freshman of the Week after her performances against Indiana and Michigan State. Last week the Wisconsin native dropped an average of 15 points, five rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 73.3 percent from the floor and 62.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Mara Braun was named to the Cheryl Miller Award top 10 list on Wednesday. The Wayzata, Minn., native leads the Golden Gophers in scoring (17.7). Her 56 made threes rank her second in the Big Ten and is ninth in the country. She's second in the NCAA in free throw percentage at 94.8 percent, a category that no Big Ten has led nationally since 2006 (Adrienne Squire, Penn State).
Minnesota's offense has been elite in the fourth quarter this season with the Maroon and Gold owning a 19.2-13.5 on average in the final quarter. In conference play in the fourth Minnesota's offense has been efficient in all facets shooting 48.7 percent (57-of-117) from the floor and 40.7 percent (13-of-32) from three.
Last season the Gophers were ranked 291st in the NCAA and 13th in the Big Ten in turnovers per game (17.7) per game but through 19 games this season are ranked 20th in the country and No. 3 in the Big Ten at 12.8.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 - This season Grace Grocholski is the only Big Ten freshman to average 11.0 points, 4.6 rebounds while shooting 36 percent or better from beyond the arc.
8 - Minnesota is currently projected as a No. 8 seed by ESPN's Charlie Creme.
17 - Mallory Heyer has made at least one three in 17 straight games.
6 - This season Minnesota's record is 6-3 against teams in the top 100 of the NET Rankings.
50 - Sophomore Mallory Heyer is set to start her 50th-straight game to start her career.

The 'U' will return home for a matchup with Penn State to close out the month of January on the 31st. The Nittany Lions and Gophers will be seen on B1G+ starting at 7 p.m.

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 (X.com), Instagram (@GopherWBB) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2023-24 season.

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Players Mentioned

Amaya Battle

Mara Braun

Grace Grocholski

Mallory Heyer