With one more chance of stopping the bleeding against a running Big Ten, the Penn State Gophers (84-65) were put to flight in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Minnesota played without center Liam Robbins (knuckles) and shooting guard Gabe Kalscheur (fingers) and tried hard to look good on offense. You lost the Brandon Johnson wing early on; The senior was limited to a total of nine minutes due to an agonizing ankle injury.
With the defeat, Minnesota’s path to an NCAA tournament was likely limited to winning the March 10-14 conference tournament in Indianapolis.
The Gophers (13-13, 6-13 Big Ten) lost six games to Rutgers (13-10, 9-10) at Williams Arena on Saturday and lost nine of their last eleven games.
The Nittany Lions (9-13, 6-13) had lost five of six games and were one of three teams under Minnesota in the Big Ten. Minnesota drew within 11 points (74-63) on two free throws from Isaiah them 3 minutes and 51 seconds but had dug too big a hole.
Penn State used a 21-2 run that spanned the first and second halves to retreat, leading 60:36 by 13:54. After your free throws, the Lions scored the next seven points on a layup, a 3-pointer and a dunk for an 81-63 lead.
Marcus Carr, who entered the game with an average of 19.1 points at team level and had scored 41 points in the Gophers’ previous game, was faced with a steady diet of aggressive doubles. He finished the game with 22 points but had to work hard for each point. Carr only made his third field goal when there were still 6:26 seconds left in the game. He finished 4 for 13 from the field and 13 of 15 from the free throw line.
Although the Gophers missed eight of their first nine shots to start the game and were beaten 17-6 in the first 10 minutes, they pulled consecutive fastbreak baskets out of Tre’s sales within 18:17 Williams.
After 21-20, the Gophers had a chance to take the lead but opted for a long, hasty, and flawed 3-point attempt, and Penn State responded with a 10-2 run, at 30-18 24 to rise.
Minnesota never got closer. Penn State finished half-time on a 16-2 run that ended when Myles Dread picked Marcus Carr two seconds from the end and drilled a 3-pointer on the buzzer.
The Nittany Lions (9-13, 6-13) made the first two baskets of the second half, including a 3-pointer from Myreon Jones, and opened a 24-point lead when Jamari Wheelers 3 hit a 54- 30 lead for Penn opened state.
The Gophers were hoping to get Robbins, a 7-foot center, back for the game, but he missed his third straight; Junior Kalscheur, the Gophers’ leading 3-point shooter as a freshman and sophomore, has missed six times in a row.
On the subject of matching items
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Gophers goes 2-0 against the Big Ten’s worst teams this week and loses 78-74 to Nebraska
Fire Richard Pitino? Gophers Athletics’ current finances could be the biggest hurdle
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