Better But Still a Blowout; Gophers Fall 70-46 at MSU

Minnesota got off to a strong start and had much better intensity than it did Saturday against Northwestern, but the results were still the same. The Gophers again struggled to score, shooting just 31% from the field and failing to hit 50 for the fourth time in five games. Dan Coleman, Lawrence McKenzie, and Jamal Abu-Shamala combined for 37 of Minnesota’s 46 points.

Simply (and honestly) put, the Gophers could have played one of their better games tonight and still have gotten blown out. Michigan State looked good and is definitely in a different class than Minnesota. With little inside scoring (other than a little at the start by Coleman), MSU’s quickness and defensive intensity was able to pretty much shut down the Gophers on the perimeter. There were few open looks, and the few that did come along weren’t knocked down with much consistency.

Coleman again played hard and had a fairly solid game despite shooting just 4 for 12 and grabbing just 4 rebounds. McKenzie knocked down some tough shots but wasn’t able to get any looks that weren’t tough shots. And Shamala knocked down three late jumpers with some hot shooting that will hopefully carry over to Saturday.

If the Gophers are going to end their losing streak anytime soon, Saturday’s home game against Penn State is definitely the time to do it.

Here’s the box score.

Talk about the game on our Gopher Basketball message board.