Minnesota Golden Gophers keep it close, but fall to #1 Michigan State
The Minnesota Golden Gophers faced off against #1 Michigan State at home and they at least made it interesting.
It could’ve been a lot worse and it probably should’ve been a lot worse. The Golden Gophers have looked pretty bad so far this season and were thrown into a game with #1 Michigan State in the Gophers’ home opener for Big Ten play. The good news is that the Gophers at least made it a close game in a 69-61 loss on Saturday afternoon.
First thing to be noted is that Denzel Valentine, a total stud for Michigan State, was out for Tom Izzo and the Spartans on Saturday which made the game a whole lot closer.
It also didn’t help that the Gophers went absolutely cold in the last 15 minutes of the game. As Chris Long of KSTP-TV points out, the Gophers went 5-21 from the field in the last 15 minutes of the game. That’s not good.
With two minutes left of the game, the Gophers found themselves only down by two points after Kevin Dorsey hit one free throw, but the Spartans went on a 6-0 run to end the contest, including nailing all four free throw attempts the team had in the last 30 ticks of the game.
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Michigan State was led by Matt Costello who notched a double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Guard Bryn Forbes led in the points column with a 20 point night. Michigan State played six players off the bench, but only two registered shot attempts and only one scored. Devonta Davis had 10 points off the bench.
Nate Mason led the Gophers in scoring with 16 points. Jordan Murphy was a rebound away from a double-double with a 14 point and nine rebound afternoon from the Barn. Kevin Dorsey was the only other Minnesota player in double digits with an 11 point game.
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The Gophers next play on Tuesday when they travel out to Pennsylvania to take on Penn State. The game is set for a 6:00 tipoff and can be seen on the Big Ten Network.