All I can say is thank god. I don't think a Gopher lead has been safe since Clem Haskins was roaming the sidelines. This might have been the biggest collapse at all. It was ridiculous when they lost a 15 point halftime lead to MSU two years ago, but an 18 point lead with 10 minutes to play? In college basketball? It was amazing the efficiency with which they gave it up too... it went from a laugher to "oh my god what is happening" in less than 3 minutes.
Officially the Gophers were charged with 18 turnovers but it felt like even more. Perhaps most concerning is that SIX different players tied for the team lead with 3. Almost every one of the turnovers was completely avoidable from just losing control of the dribble to travelling to throwing the ball out of bounds. It's a major concern that this issue has seemingly showed up in every game and that's before conference play when the scouting reports or player tendencies get even tighter.
The bright side was that Matz Stockman was absolutely fantastic in the first half, and Isaiah Washington had by far his best game of the season. Jordan Murphy was the man and seemed to come up with the buckets to get us back in the game in the first half and the big rebounds late in the second half. Really great to see Dupree knock down a couple 3's as well.
I really have no idea what to make of this team as they probably looked the best they have all year in this game yet still looked absolutely atrocious early in the 13-0 run and again to blow much of the 18 point lead. They haven't put 35 minutes together much less 40 all season. That said, the record is really all that matters at the end of the day and everyone would have taken 4-1 against Utah, Texas A&M, Washington, Boston College, and Oklahoma State.
Absolutely crucial to at least split the opening 2 B1G games, really need to set a tone of winning at home too.