Weirdest feeling ever. Great to get exceptionally lucky and win a game you have no business winning, very disappointing to be in that position to begin with. Absolutely petrified that this could lead to another year of Pitino.
I felt like the Gophers were outworked, outplayed, and outcoached all game long. I believe Purdue finished like 2-17 from 3 and at one point they were 1-15 and had complete control of the game with a bunch of Freshman and Sophomores on the road in a game that Minnesota absolutely had to win. I don't know what the rebounding numbers ended up being, but Purdue just abused the Gophers to get numerous second shot opportunities. I'd expect to have a comfortable lead at home against almost anyone shooting 1-15 from 3 in a must win game, and the Gophers trailed for like 30 straight minutes.
At the end of the game, Pitino somehow allows Williams an entire side of the court to himself to take multiple dribbles and back down Robbins who he absolutey abused all game to take the lead. Then the Gophers come back down with Carr and a full shot clock and he launches a shot very reminiscent of the Rutgers game, but this time it banks in. If that shot misses, every single post on here would be about how the F was that the shot again. Then Purdue comes down and gets Williams the ball in great postion again. If Williams doesn't slip he scores, unless Johnson gets there for the block.
On a positive note, Marcus Carr made the 3 best plays of the first half by any player on either team, then made those huge free throws to tie it. Then Gabe gets fouled with the Gophers up 1 and makes both clutch free throws. The Gophers never go 2-2 from the line in these spots and it was refreshing to see Marcus and Gabe step up and knock them down.
I can't say enough good things about Brandon Johnson. In a game where it really seemed like a lot of Gophers (especially Gopher bigs) lacked the fight, Brandon brought the energy and effort for every minute of his time on the floor. The Gophers are never in the position to get lucky without what Brandon did to keep them within striking distance for much of the game.