Darryl Morsell ripped the hearts out of Minnesota on Wednesday night. And along with it, just about any remote hope of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid for the Golden Gophers.
This is going to be a tough one to overcome. The Golden Gophers have done this before, but this one would seem to take the cake.
Minnesota ran out to a 21-8 lead, getting uncharacteristically hot from long range along the way. They turned that into a 47-31 halftime lead, and still led by 16 just over four minutes into the second half. The lead was only trimmed to 64-50 almost 11 minutes into the second half. Then Maryland ran off 10 unanswered points, and you wonder if the home fans started to get antsy.
Minnesota would keep them at bay for a bit, going up by seven just inside of three minutes and then up by eight less than a minute later, but a quick three-pointer to get within 72-67 got it all going. The Golden Gophers then went ice cold.
Two missed three-pointers were followed by a turnover. Gabe Kalscheur made one of two free throws, then two missed front ends of one-and-ones had the score at 73-71 and Maryland with the ball off the rebound. That’s when Morsell put up his deep three-pointer that went down with less than two seconds to go, and a last-gasp attempt was no good.
Maryland had rallied for a 74-73 win. The Golden Gophers blew one that was there for the taking, a big-time quality win opportunity.
Daniel Oturu was unstoppable, going for 28 points on 10-13 shooting and grabbing 11 rebounds. They were 10-24 from long range. They held Maryland below 38 percent from the field.
But it wasn’t enough. And in some sense, that’s the story of the season for Minnesota. They’re a good team, but don’t seem to have quite enough for the Big Dance unless they win the Big Ten Tournament.
Side Dishes
The other Big Ten game on the night was similarly dramatic, though without the same big picture implications for the team on the short end. Penn State got a big three-pointer in the final minute and held off Rutgers 65-64 in Happy Valley to break a two-game losing streak after they had won eight in a row.
There were two big games in the Southern Conference, and both went to the road teams, who are the top two in the conference. Leader East Tennessee State went to Wofford and overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the Terriers 60-54, while Furman traveled to UNC Greensboro and handled the Spartans 81-67 to stay a game back of the Buccaneers.
Florida pulled into a tie for third with LSU in the SEC by handling the Tigers 81-66, getting a big night from Keyontae Johnson with 25 points and 11 rebounds. LSU has now lost three of their last four and five of seven. Also in the SEC, Arkansas got Isaiah Joe back from injury, but the big game was from Mason Jones, who had 37 points to lead the Razorbacks past Tennessee 86-69 and drop the Volunteers below .500 in SEC play. Joe had 22 points on 4-12 shooting in 34 minutes.
Other results of note: Villanova pulled away from St. John’s 71-60; Virginia held off Virginia Tech 56-53 in Blacksburg; Syracuse took care of host Pittsburgh 72-49; South Carolina edged Georgia 94-90 in overtime; Duquesne edged St. Bonaventure 81-77 in overtime despite a big game from Bonnie big man Osun Osunniyi (23 points, 13 rebounds); UMass handed VCU another damaging loss, a 60-52 setback in Amherst thanks to outscoring the Rams 32-19 in the second half; Rhode Island got a big game from Tyrese Martin (24 points, 16 rebounds) but barely got past Fordham 76-75 in the Bronx; Bucknell edged Colgate 71-70, but the Raiders clinched the Patriot League regular season title because Lehigh edged Boston University 57-55; Stephen F. Austin clinched at least a share of the regular season title in the Southland by blowing out Northwestern State 90-59; Northern Iowa blew out Evansville 84-64 to remain a game ahead in the Missouri Valley, while Southern Illinois was surprised at home by surging Indiana State 77-68; Marquette blasted Georgetown 93-72 in Milwaukee; Stanford held off Utah 70-62; and UNLV handled Boise State 76-66.
File this away in the times ahead when the NCAA doles out punishments (if any) to teams who have received a notice of allegations regarding the FBI investigation: former Penn head coach Jerome Allen was given a 15-year show-cause penalty after accepting at least $250,000 from a prospect’s father to help the player athletically and academically to get into Penn. While there were multiple NCAA violations involved – tryout and recruiting contact in addition to the pay, which wasn’t reported as related income – this involved a player who was simply not good enough. So if these actions with a player who was far from a difference-maker get someone a 15-year show-cause, the punishments handed out later are bound to raise eyebrows one way or the other.
Wisconsin transfer Kobe King has committed to Nebraska, ESPN reported. The sophomore guard was the team’s second-leading scorer at the time he left last month, and is expected to petition for a waiver to be eligible immediately next season. He will have two seasons of eligibility.
Tonight’s Menu
The regular season is winding down in many conferences, so some of the games tonight have seeding implications or the regular season title may hinge on the outcome.
- The final weekend of the CAA regular season gets going with a key game as Delaware visits College of Charleston (6 p.m.) and Towson visits Hofstra (7 p.m.)
- In the Big Ten, Wisconsin visits Michigan and arch rivals meet as Purdue hosts Indiana (7 p.m.), while later Northwestern hosts Illinois (8 p.m.) and Ohio State goes to Nebraska (9 p.m.)
- Two of the leaders in the Ohio Valley Conference clash as Murray State hosts Eastern Kentucky (8 p.m.)
- An important game in Conference USA is on tap between the two teams chasing North Texas as Louisiana Tech visits Western Kentucky (8 p.m.)
- The regular season title is on the line in the Summit League as South Dakota State visits North Dakota State (9 p.m.)
- Key games in the Pac-12 are Arizona at USC (10 p.m.), Oregon State at Oregon and Arizona State at UCLA (11 p.m.)
