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Instant reaction | Illinois 73, Minnesota 68

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Instant reaction | Illinois 73, Minnesota 68


WHAT HAPPENED

Illinois found a way after a series of close losses this season. And did so after an 11-point halftime deficit. Makira Cook was really good throughout. But Genesis Bryant took over in the fourth quarter with 12 points in the final period. That Camille Hobby also delivered nine points in the fourth quarter, as well, with the high-low game working to great effect helped the Illini produce a key 73-68 win before 4,788 fans on Sunday afternoon at State Farm Center.

WHAT IT MEANS

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It’s the win of the season for Illinois. One of the Quad II variety for the Illini, too, with Minnesota entering Sunday with a NET ranking of 35 as a potential NCAA tournament team in Dawn Plitzuweit‘s first season in Minneapolis. More importantly for Illinois (9-10, 3-6 Big Ten) it was significant from the standpoint the Illini had lost eight of their 10 games this winter by a combined margin of 44 points. Illinois was the more poised team when it counted on Sunday, however.

WHAT’S NEXT

A rematch with Michigan. The first game in Champaign was the Illini’s worst performance of the Green era, as the Wolverines made quite the statement with an 84-48 rout of Illinois in the Big Ten opener for both teams on Dec. 10. The Illini head to Ann Arbor to face Michigan (14-7, 5-4) ahead of a 6 p.m. Wednesday tip at the Crisler Center. The Wolverines have had an up and down month of January, which included a 82-61 loss at Michigan State on Saturday afternoon.

WHAT WAS SAID

“Just really proud of these guys and the resiliency we’ve shown in this game and really in the past month or so. This is a really good Minnesota team. A really good team with a lot of weapons. … We have been talking about finishing and really just saying, ‘We’re going to win this game.’ These guys did that and they had the confidence and they had the execution and they had the effort, and it was really a fun thing to watch. … This was a really critical game for us.” — Illinois coach Shauna Green

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Revived Ravens make 1st visit to Minnesota with Lamar Jackson in latest test for Vikings defense – WTOP News

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Revived Ravens make 1st visit to Minnesota with Lamar Jackson in latest test for Vikings defense – WTOP News


Baltimore (3-5) at Minnesota (4-4) Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox. BetMGM NFL Odds: Ravens by 4½. Against the spread: Ravens…

Baltimore (3-5) at Minnesota (4-4)

Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, Fox.

BetMGM NFL Odds: Ravens by 4½.

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Against the spread: Ravens 3-5, Vikings 4-4.

Series record: Ravens lead 4-3.

Last meeting: Ravens beat Vikings 34-31 in OT in Baltimore on Nov. 7, 2021.

Last week: Ravens beat Dolphins 28-6 in Miami on Thursday; Vikings beat Lions 27-24 in Detroit on Sunday.

Ravens offense: overall (20), rush (6), pass (28), scoring (12).

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Ravens defense: overall (27), rush (21), pass (28), scoring (26).

Vikings offense: overall (26), rush (23), pass (26), scoring (18).

Vikings defense: overall (14), rush (20), pass (8), scoring (20).

Turnover differential: Ravens minus-3, Vikings minus-4.

Ravens player to watch

RB Derrick Henry. The five-time Pro Bowl pick had 119 yards on 19 carries against the Dolphins for a season-best average of 6.3 yards per attempt as the Ravens won their second straight game after a 1-5 start. Henry is the eighth player in league history with 12,000-plus rushing yards and 100-plus touchdowns. The Vikings have allowed 200-plus rushing yards twice this season, but last week they held Jahmyr Gibbs and the Lions to a net of 65 yards on 20 carries and three weeks ago against Saquon Barkley and the Eagles they allowed only 45 yards on 23 yards.

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Vikings player to watch

LB Blake Cashman. Having missed four games earlier this season with a hamstring injury, Cashman has provided another reminder of how impactful his smarts, toughness and speed in the middle of the defense can be. He had 14 tackles against the Lions, his most in two years with his hometown team, including one for loss and one that forced a fumble recovered by the Vikings to set up a third-quarter touchdown. Cashman will likely be on spy duty against Lamar Jackson, whose running ability among NFL QBs is second to none.

Key matchup

Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy vs. Ravens pass defense. McCarthy returned last week after a five-game absence with a sprained ankle and showed little rust, other than a few inaccurate throws among the moments his inexperience showed. Playing at home with his offensive line as collectively healthy as it’s been all season, McCarthy has a favorable opportunity to find a rhythm against a defense that has been atypically near the bottom of the league in several key statistical categories this season. The Ravens have the NFL’s third-worst sacks-per-pass-attempt rate and only three interceptions, though they haven’t allowed a passing touchdown in either of their past two games.

Key injuries

Ravens: Not a single player on the active 53-man roster appeared on the initial injury report on Wednesday, after the team was decimated by absences at times last month. … OLB Tavius Robinson (foot) is on injured reserve after getting hurt three weeks ago. Two-time Pro Bowl DT Nnamdi Madubuike (neck) is done for the season. DT Broderick Washington (Achilles tendon) is also on IR and will miss his sixth straight game.

Vikings: RB Aaron Jones (shoulder/toe) didn’t practice on Wednesday, along with TE Josh Oliver (foot), S Theo Jackson (concussion) and backup CB Jeff Okudah (concussion). Jones and Jackson were injured against the Lions. Oliver and Okudah were inactive for that game. … FB C.J. Ham (hand) was a limited participant on Wednesday after missing the past two games. … C Ryan Kelly (concussion) is on injured reserve, eligible to return but with no timetable yet.

Series notes

The Ravens, who are in their 30th season in Baltimore, will make only their third trip to Minnesota. They lost to the Vikings at the Metrodome in 2009 and at U.S. Bank Stadium in 2017. … The home team has won the past six games in the series since the Vikings won the first matchup in Baltimore in 1998. … Jackson, who has never played at Minnesota, ran 21 times for 120 yards in the overtime victory over the Vikings in 2021.

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Stats and stuff

Jackson, who missed three games with a hamstring injury, will make his 100th regular-season start for the Ravens. His record is 72-27. … Jackson had his seventh career game last week in his return from injury against the Dolphins with four-plus TD passes and a 140-plus passer rating. His 136.7 passer rating is the highest through Week 9 in NFL history among QBs with a qualifying amount of playing time. … TE Mark Andrews, who had two TD catches last week, is 18 yards from passing Derrick Mason as the career leading receiver for the Ravens. … The Ravens lead the league with 10 TDs of 20-plus yards. … The Ravens have allowed an average of only 13 points over the past three games. They gave up 37-plus points in each of their first four losses. … Ravens LB Roquan Smith had 12 tackles in each of the past two games. … Jordan Stout has landed four punts inside the 5-yard line for the Ravens, tied for the most in the NFL. He leads the league in net average at 46 yards per punt. … McCarthy is the first player in NFL history with two or more TD passes and one or more rushing TD in at least two of his first three career games. … Jones had a season-high 98 yards from scrimmage last week. … Vikings WR Justin Jefferson, who’s fifth in the NFL with 649 receiving yards and has 8,081 for his career, will pass Torry Holt with 76 more yards for the second most in league history through a player’s first six seasons. Randy Moss (8,375) has the most. … The Vikings had a season-high five sacks last week and have the longest active streak in the league with multiple sacks in 12 straight games. … Vikings LB Eric Wilson had two sacks last week, while playing 56 of 64 snaps on defense and 21 of 30 on special teams. … Vikings OLB Jonathan Greenard has 10 tackles for loss, fourth most in the league. … Will Reichard has made 14 field goals from 50-plus yards for the Vikings, tied for the second most through a player’s first two seasons with Evan McPherson. Brandon Aubrey had 24.

Fantasy tip

Baltimore’s three tight ends — Andrews, Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar — combined for seven catches for 105 yards and three touchdowns against the Dolphins. Lions tight end Sam LaPorta had six receptions for 97 yards and a touchdown against Minnesota last week, and Oronde Gadsden had five catches for 77 yards and a touchdown the game before that against the Vikings.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

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© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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Central Minnesota woman turns old barnwood into works of art

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Central Minnesota woman turns old barnwood into works of art


Fall harvest means barns across the Midwest are a busy place — but for a central Minnesota woman, they aren’t just farm buildings, they’re works of art.

“Most of my barns are 100 to 120 years old,” said Heather Coleman.

While home buyers go house hunting, Coleman goes barn hunting across central Minnesota. The more beat up the building is, the better.

“This was a windstorm this summer that took this beautiful thing down,” Coleman said while visiting a barn in Kandiyohi County.

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The barnwood she gathers ends up in her shop near the town of Pennock — that’s where it finds a new purpose.

“All these dilapidated barns out in the country either get bulldozed or just sit there and I’m all about refurbishing anything,” Coleman said.

She’s refurbishing while combining her love for farm life with her love for lake life. Coleman has always been good with a saw, so, years ago, when someone asked her if she could carve the shape of their lake out of her barnwood, she didn’t hesitate.

“I said, ‘I’ll give it a try. I’ll try anything once.’ And that’s where it started,” Coleman said.

The first lake turned out so well that word spread. Coleman now does about 50 Minnesota lakes a year. She uses maps from both the Department of Natural Resources and Google to get the shape and then traces them. Then it’s all about getting the cuts just right.

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Because no two lakes are the same, every cove and every corner is important.

After the artwork takes shape, 1-inch strips of barnwood are applied. Some light sanding is the final touch.

“Some are intense. Eagle Lake, maybe a half hour. Lake Superior could take a couple hours because starting from the beginning, then cutting and then sanding, and I’m very particular, so it could take quite a while,” Coleman said.

A quick look around her shop shows Coleman is also known for repurposing water skis, hockey sticks and even beer cans — but her heart is in the heartland.

There’s no shortage of barnwood, so there’s no shortage of ideas. She plans to continue to combine her love for barns with her love for lakes. After all, there are 10,000 in the state, which means she isn’t planning on leaving her shop anytime soon.

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“My grandma always said if you enjoy doing what you do, it’s never a job. And I love being in my garage and doing this,” Coleman said.

Coleman gives a state of Minnesota barnwood piece to every farmer who donates barnwood to her project. 

Coleman shares her work on Facebook.



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What’s going on with health insurance in Minnesota?

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What’s going on with health insurance in Minnesota?


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