The Wisconsin Badgers dominated the Gophers men’s basketball team Friday night in Indianapolis 83-57 in Big Ten tournament play in Indianapolis.
The Pioneer Press says the loss by the Gophers more than likely means they’ll miss a bid for this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Gophers’ hopes for a chance to play in the Big Dance were lifted Thursday when the team beat Penn State 63-56 in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.
The second-seeded Badgers beat the seventh-seeded Gophers after Minnesota shot about 33 percent from the field Friday night. Wisconsin sunk 54.3 percent from the field. The defeat marked the Gophers’ worst one-sided loss since a 71-45 drubbing by Ohio State last season.
The Badgers led 34-22 going into halftime, even though the Gophers at one point pulled within three points, the Star Tribune says. The Gophers’ leading scorer, Andre Hollins, was held without a field goal until there was 3:58 left in the second half, when he hit a three-pointer. At that point, however, the Badgers had a 24-point lead.
DeAndre Mathieu led the Gophers in scoring with 18 points, followed by Joey King with 14. Hollins ended the game with eight points.
Ben Brust scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Badgers, while his teammate, Frank Kaminsky pulled in a team-leading 12 rebounds.
The Associated Press says the Gophers’ loss to the Badgers Friday night was the sixth in the last eight match-ups between the teams.
The loss dropped the Gophers to 20-13 on the season, while the No. 12 Badgers improved to 26-6.
The Pioneer Press says that coach Richard Pitino entered the tournament with the hope that reaching the 20-win mark – reached with the defeat of Penn State Thursday – would be enough to qualify the team for the NCAA tournament.
