Anything that could have gone wrong for the Gophers men’s basketball team did this season. Minnesota finished their regular season with a thud Saturday, falling to Rutgers 75-52 and handing the Scarlet Knights their only Big Ten victory.
Minnesota wasn’t much better. The Gophers won just two Big Ten games, finishing the season at 8-22. They open the Big Ten tournament on Wednesday afternoon against Illinois.
However, there was one player who offered a little hope for the Gophers as the program moves forward. Forward Jordan Murphy was named to the five-man Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
The team was selected by all 14 Big Ten coaches, with the conference announcing results of the voting Monday.
Murphy, who was a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, becomes the first Gopher player to be named to the All-Freshman team in 11 years, and just the third all-time (Kris Humphries in 2004, Dan Coleman 2005) are the others.
Jordan Murphy is the first @GopherMBB All-Big Ten freshman team selection since Dan Coleman in 2005.
— Marcus R. Fuller (@Marcus_R_Fuller) March 8, 2016
Murphy averaged 11.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game for the Gophers. His nine double-doubles are tied for the most in the Big Ten.
The Daily Gopher called Murphy a “constant and reliable inside presence” during what was a tumultuous season for the Gophers.
He scored in double figures 20 times this year, putting up his career-high 24 points in a victory over Clemson in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. He also set a new Gopher single-game rebound record, when he grabbed 18 boards against Chicago State.
The rest of the conference’s All-Freshman team included Indiana’s Thomas Bryant, Maryland’s Diamond Stone, Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan and Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ.
