After blowing what looked like a win over Michigan State in their Big Ten opener, the Golden Gophers men’s basketball team shocked the 15th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers 91-82 in overtime Sunday.
And they pulled the upset on the road against a team that many experts believe has enough talent to go all the way to the Final Four.
Nat Mason led Minnesota with a career high 31 points and 11 assists to give the Gophers the biggest win in the Richard Pitino era.
“It was a great win,” Pitino said. “It’s great for a lot of things. We had a long, tough offseason and we deserved it. But we had to sit there and take it. It’s nice for them to feel some success, sitting at 13-2 with a young team with a lot of room to grow.”
The odds were against a Gopher victory. Purdue had lost only twice at home in its last 33 games and they were heavy, 15-point favorites against the Gophers.
