An off-court investigation and ankle injury slowed down Reggie Lynch earlier this year.

Now his coach believes the redshirt junior is one of the Big Ten’s best players in the middle.

Lynch and Jordan Murphy each had a double-double and Minnesota pulled away to beat Northern Illinois 77-57 Sunday.

Lynch scored 11 of his career-high tying 18 points in the second half. His 11 rebounds were two off a career best.

Murphy had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota (10-1). Nate Mason finished with 11 points and Akeem Springs and Dupree McBrayer had 10.

“I played pretty good, but everyone all around did very well,” Lynch said.