In desperate need of a marquee win over a ranked team, the Gophers men’s basketball team earned a hard-fought ..-… win over No. 11 Purdue at Williams Arena Tuesday night.
The win is arguably Minnesota’s biggest of the season, and it was Amir Coffey and Matz Stockman who fueled it.
Minnesota’s took a 10-point lead into the half and held it for much of the second half until Coffey and Stockman took a breather, at which point the Boilermakers went on a run and turned a nine-point deficit into a tie game, 54-54 with 8:34 to play.
That’s when head coach Richard Pitino put Coffey and Stockman back in the game. Seventeen seconds later Coffey hit a pair of free throws, followed by a Stockman block and free throw to put Minnesota up by three.
Gabe Kalscheur hit a 3 to put Minnesota up 60-54 with 5:45 to go.
Stockman then hammered home a dunk to go up by seven, followed by a layup by Coffey with 3:47 to go to give the Gophers 64-55 lead.
Purdue hit a trio of 3-pointers in the final 3:29 and cut Minnesota’s lead to two points with five seconds to go, but Minnesota sealed the win on a pair of free throws from Coffey for a 73-69 victory.
Cofffey finished with 32 points and hit 13-of-18 free throws.
Stockman had nine points, six rebounds and seven blocks off the bench.
Minnesota, on the NCAA Tournament bubble entering the game, earned what could ultimately be a win that gets their name called on Selection Sunday.
We’ll have more to come once bracketology is updated in the coming days.
