Milwaukee sends Gophers to 4th loss in 5 non-conference games

Final: #Gophers fall to Milwaukee at the Barn. pic.twitter.com/TilICRdG2B

— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) December 24, 2015

Milwaukee Panthers 74

Minnesota Gophers 65

The Gophers men’s basketball team continued to struggle in their non-conference schedule Wednesday night falling to Milwaukee 74-65 at Williams Arena.

It was the Panthers’ second victory over a Big Ten team this season.

1. Jordan Johnson nears a triple-double

You don’t see many triple-doubles in college basketball, but Milwaukee’s Jordan Johnson was near one. The junior guard scored 19 points, dished out 10 assists and grabbed nine rebounds.

Johnson led all five starters in double figures for the Panthers.

2. Murphy is Minnesota’s Mr. Double-double

Freshman Jordan Murphy was impressive in his first career start. Murphy had another double-double, finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

He also brought some excitement to “The Barn” when the Gophers got out to a slow start.

ICYMI: Jordan Murphy had a few highlight worthy dunks for @GopherMBB in the first half against UW-Milwaukee! https://t.co/2b46JgC7Ol

— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) December 24, 2015

3. Gophers struggle at the free throw line

After a week off, the Gophers offense seemed out of sync most of the night. If they were making shots, they were missing free throws – Minnesota started 1-of-6 from the free throw line Wednesday night.

It didn’t get a lot better as the night went on; the Gophers finished just 4-of-11 from the stripe.

Tweets of the Game:

Is the seat starting to get a little warm for Richard Pitino?

So Pitino has 2016-17 to coach for his job. He has the talent to have a good team so it's on him.

— Jonathan (@GettingGophery) December 24, 2015

74 Milwaukee 65 Minnesota, your final from the Barn. UMN's fourth loss in 5 games, third guarantee game loss.

— Amelia Rayno (@AmeliaRayno) December 24, 2015

Since the start of the #B1G (1904), #Gophers have lost 3 reg. season non-conf. gms to border teams TWICE:

2015-2016
1944-1945

That's it.

— Keith Leventhal (@KeithLeventhal) December 24, 2015

Up Next:

The Gophers (6-6) open up Big Ten play next Wednesday against Ohio State.