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CHICAGO (AP) - Vincent Grier scored 16 points and Minnesota made its case for the NCAA tournament Friday, pulling away in the second half to rout Indiana 71-55 in the Big Ten quarterfinals.

Bidding for its first NCAA trip in six seasons under coach Dan Monson, the Golden Gophers (21-9) have won five straight and now face top-ranked Illinois in Saturday's semifinals. The Illini beat Northwestern 68-51 Friday in the first quarterfinal at the United Center.

Grier had 14 of his points in the second half. Brent Lawson added 15 points, and Aaron Robinson 14 for the Golden Gophers, who shot 45 percent.

Freshman D.J. White led Indiana with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Bracey Wright, the Big Ten's leading scorer in the regular season at 18.5 points, scored 14 on 4-for-13 shooting. Indiana was just 8-for-31 (26 percent) shooting in the second half.

Trailing by just six at the half, the Hoosiers closed to 42-40 when White got two baskets inside and missed a third shot to tie.

The Golden Gophers then took off on an 18-5 run featuring a three-point play by Grier and a 3-pointer by Robinson for a 60-45 lead with 8:18 left.

Robinson found the range on another 3-pointer and Grier dropped in two more free throws to make it 65-47 with 6:41 remaining. The lead eventually reached 20.

A pair of freshmen helped the Gophers go up by 10 in the first half as Dan Coleman made a 3-pointer and then 6-foot-9, 275-pound backup center Spencer Tollackson muscled his way in for a pair of baskets.

Indiana got it back to six at the half, thanks to a reverse slam by White.