Gophers Collapse at Purdue

Minnesota finally got off to a good start Saturday night at Purdue, but unfortunately their string of poor finishes continued. Somehow a Minnesota lead with 10 minutes remaining turned into a blowout 72-55 loss to the Boilermakers; a loss which puts the Gophers in sole possession of last place in the Big Ten at 0-3.

The Gophers came out with energy in this one, obviously knowing a victory was critical to keep their NCAA hopes alive. They won the rebounding battle in the first half and put up a scorching 33 points (after scoring just 35 points combined in their previous two first halves). That was good enough for a 33-33 tie with the Boilers, who also had a solid offensive half helped by some Minnesota defensive lapses.

The second half continued on the same way. Neither team played that well (this was a very ugly game at times), but Minnesota played well enough to give itself a chance to win on the road. With 8 minutes left, the Gophers actually led 47-46.

And that was all she wrote. Purdue obviously closed the game on a 26-8 run as the Gophers made just three field goals the rest of the way. I’m not sure what’s worse ““ making just three field goals in the last eight minutes, or giving up 26 points in the last eight minutes. Both are bad, and both will definitely not get it done on the road. And in the end, the Gophers followed up dreadful offensive performances against Northwestern and Wisconsin with their worst shooting performance yet: just 34% from the field, a number which looks even worse when compared to Purdue’s 51%.

Spencer Tollackson‘s quiet 8 points and 7 rebounds may have been the Gophers best line of the night. Moe Hargrow had an efficient night with 10 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds, but he wasn’t a big factor. Adam Boone, Dan Coleman, and Vincent Grier all had off nights.

So where do we go from here? Wish I knew”¦.

Here’s the box score.

Talk about the game on our Gopher Basketball message board.