The Illinois men’s basketball team chuck more 3-pointers than any other team in the Big Ten — but they clank almost as often, with the second-lowest shooting percentage in the conference this season.

The 23rd-ranked Illini stopped the madness and further exploited their formidable size — and skill — advantages by going to the bucket, often at will, in a 95-74 win over the Gophers on Saturday at Williams Arena

The Illini (16-8, 8-6 Big Ten) lead the nation in rebounds per game and grabbed 12 more than Minnesota on Saturday; they had a 50-26 discrepancy in points in the paint on the Gophers (12-12, 4-9).

“I felt like they were too comfortable,” said Gophers guard Lu’Cye Patterson, who led Minnesota with a season-high 24 points. “We didn’t have no urgency. We didn’t light a fire in them. ... When we went to Michigan State, coach Ben (Johnson) always talks about how urgent they were against us. The pressure. You could really feel them. They didn’t feel us today — at all. ... It was just ugly.”

Illinois started a huge lineup with Tomislav Ivisic (7-foot-1), Ben Humrichous (6-9) and Morez Johnson (6-9). Minnesota countered with only two bigs in Dawson Garcia (6-11) and Parker Fox (6-8). By halftime, the tone was set.Down the stretch, Johnson instead went with four guards and Garcia, while Fox, Frank Mitchell and Trey Edmonds each played less than 10 minutes in the game.

“It’s pick your poison,” Johnson said. “You can stay big and hope they don’t exploit it and make shots with (Ivisic) or you can try to go small and match-up and switch (on ball screens). We decided to go small and switch everything.”

Lithuanian freshman Kasparas Jakucionis, a projected first-round NBA draft pick, smoothly poured in 24 points. Six-foot-8 freshman Will Riley came off the bench and led all scorers with 27 points.

Ivisic was listed as questionable on the Illini’s unavailable list, but he hurt Minnesota instead. He added 18 points and 11 rebounds.

“We know obviously going in they were one of the most talented teams in not only our league, but the country” Johnson said. “Their numbers weren’t necessarily great shooting it, but you can throw those out the window.”

The Gophers started white-hot with three made 3-pointers on their first three possessions and led 9-2, but it didn’t last as the Illini immediately took advantage down low with a 28-12 lead in points in the paint. They led 46-35 at the break.

The Illini took away Garcia, who was named one of 10 finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year award on Friday. After scoring at least 19 in eight straight games, he finished with 13 points on 4 for 14 shooting. The senior from Savage had been tied for the Big Ten scoring lead at 20.1 points per game, alongside Rutgers freshman Ace Bailey.

Besides Patterson’s scoring, Femi Odukale stepped up with a season-high 22 points.

“They weren’t guarding Femi and kind of crowding the paint with Femi’s guy,” Johnson said. “Making a big deal that Dawson saw (extra) bodies.”

Minnesota had topped two Top 25 teams this season — then-No. 20 Michigan on Jan. 16 and then-No. 15 Oregon on Jan. 25 — but the U hasn’t beat three or more ranked teams in a season since they beat five in 2020-21.

Instead of another court-storming like the U had after those two ranked wins in January, Illinois fans throughout The Barn busted out their call-and-response chant: “ILL-INI!”

Fans in maroon and gold had seen and heard enough; they left early.

The Illini even hit their 3-pointers — nine makes but on only 16 attempts — just not the 30 they were averaging.