Gophers leading scorer Andre Hollins was held scoreless, but Minnesota beat Rutgers 80-68 in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament Wednesday night.
The victory moves the Gophers into the quarterfinals on Thursday where they will meet Ohio State.
Joey King picked up the slack for Minnesota. He knocked down 6-of-9 three-pointers and scored a game-high 20 points in leading the Gophers to the victory.
"The coaching staff and my teammates have been giving me the confidence." King, on his 6 treys tonight.
— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) March 12, 2015
Carlos Morris added 16, Nate Mason chipped in 15 and Maurice Walker had a quiet double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. DeAndre Mathieu also was solid. He contributed eight points and eight assists off the bench.
Hollins, who averaged more than 14 points a game in the regular season, was 0-for-6 from the floor.
Minnesota hasn’t won back-to-back games in the Big Ten Tournament since 2010. They will need to win four more games over the next four days to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
"We know we're going to have a very hungry basketball. We have to be ready to go." Pitino, on tomorrow's game.
— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) March 12, 2015
