Final at the Barn, #Gophers fall to South Dakota. pic.twitter.com/kGZNxn17i8
— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) December 5, 2015
South Dakota Coyotes 85
Minnesota Gophers 81 (2OT)
It was one of those nonconference games that the Gophers were expected to win easily. But the South Dakota Coyotes came to the Barn to play Saturday afternoon, and they defeated the Golden Gophers 85-81 in two overtimes.
Minnesota men’s basketball team broke its 47-game home winning streak over nonconference opponents, the Star Tribune reports.
1. Offensive woes
South Dakota led at halftime 35-29, as the Gophers shot only 39 percent from the floor. Minnesota crawled back in the second half and had an 11-0 run to go up 51-50 with 6:35 left, the Star Tribune reports.
But South Dakota quickly took the lead again in part because the Gophers missed several key free throws. Minnesota was down two points when Jordan Murphy tipped in the game-tying ball with 1 second left.
Murphy led the Gophers with 19 points and 17 rebounds, according to the Associated Press.
2. Overtime woes
In the first overtime, the Gophers went up 67-61 but couldn’t shut down South Dakota, which scored six straight points to send the game into a second overtime.
Casey Kasperbauer hit four straight free throws in the last seconds of the second overtime to seal the win for South Dakota. He led the Coyotes with 17 points. Eric Robertson scored 16, while Tre Burnette and Shy McClelland had 14 each, according to the Argus Leader.
3. Determined Coyotes
The Coyotes have several Minnesotans on their roster, including Wayzata native Robertson, and were clearly aiming for the upset. Robertson scored seven in a row in the second half, to set the tone down the stretch. Robertson hit the jumper that tied the score at the end of the first overtime.
Wayzata's Eric Robertson had 16 pts for South Dakota. #Gophers stopped recruiting him after Tubby left. "That just added fuel to my fire.”
— Marcus R. Fuller (@Marcus_R_Fuller) December 6, 2015
It was a big win for the Coyotes, who’ve only been playing Division I ball for seven years, the Associated Press notes. When the final buzzer sounded, the USD players ran to center court to celebrate.
These two teams haven’t played each other since 1985. But in the previous 14 meetings, the Gophers won all of them.
Tweets of the night:
That's what you get for scheduling cupcakes.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) December 5, 2015
Don't feel bad about losing to South Dakota, Gophs. It happened to Coach Brew's footballers & they bounced …. ah, never mind.
— Patrick Reusse (@Patrick_Reusse) December 5, 2015
Next up:
The Gophers host South Dakota State Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Williams Arena.
