The U of M men’s basketball team saw an 11-point lead – and an eight-game winning streak – slip away Wednesday, as the Gophers lost at Purdue 72-68 in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
Joey King and Maurice Walker scored 13 points each to lead the Gophers, who held an 11-point lead in the second half before the Boilermakers mounted a late charge.
Kendall Stephens led Purdue with 19 points but the Associated Press notes it was Raphael Davis who put the Boilermakers in the lead to stay and scored the last four points of the game, finishing it with a dunk.
And we say goodbye to the Minnesota sports year of 2014 with the Gophers blowing a 14 point lead and losing to Purdue
— Mark Rosen (@KFANRosen) December 31, 2014
Purdue finished the game with a 26-13 run, the Pioneer Press says.
Hot 3-point shooting provided a cornerstone during Minnesota’s non-conference winning streak. The box score shows the Gophers continued that trend by making half of their 16 threes, with King hitting three out of four. Minnesota leads the Big Ten in 3-point percentage,
Earlier in the day, things were not so hot for the Gophers. The hotel where they were staying in West Lafayette, Indiana, lost electricity and heat at about 1 a.m. apparently after a drunk driver crashed into a utility pole, the Star Tribune reports. The power returned at about 8 o’clock, the newspaper says.
The Gophers are playing three of their first four Big Ten games on the road. Next up is a Saturday game at Maryland with an 11 a.m. tipoff.
