Minnesota Sinks to 0-12 in Conference Play
February 10, 2016

As another long Big Ten season slogged on for the University of Minnesota men’s basketball team, a group of players representing the University of Michigan waltzed into Williams Arena and emerged outside with an 82-74 victory. It firmly established the Gophers in the league basement with a 0-12 record.

Some have compared the Gopher basketball woes with the recent slide of the Minnesota Wild hockey team. This, however, isn’t a valid comparison. The Wild have the components to improve, while the Gophers do not.

Minnesota had little chance to win from the opening tip. The Wolverines entered the game with a 90-65 series lead. Michigan had won the last eight games between the two teams as well as 12 of the last 13 meetings. The Wolverines were not apt to blow this one. Aubrey Dawkins canned a pair of uncontested three-point baskets, and Michigan was off and running with a 20-12 lead.

In an effort to garner some enthusiasm, the brain wizards behind Gopher publicity efforts had concocted a “maroon out” night for the Michigan game. Indeed, coach Richard Pitino’s squad wore their faded maroon road uniforms. There was plenty of maroon in the stands, too. Unfortunately, the maroon color was from empty maroon-colored seats.

Attendance was announced at 11,137. Most season-ticket holders decided that the late start (8 p.m.) and inept team were more than enough to sit this one out and watch it on TV safe and cozy at home.

Throughout the night, the Gophers failed to defend the three-point line and allowed Derrick Walton to pump in five three-pointers in the first half alone. Putting a hand in the shooter’s face proved to be an impossible task. Michigan made more than 50 percent of its three-point attempts in the period, accounting for 27 points and an easy 42-28 lead.

Second-half warmups featured Gophers’ sad faces and no communication with one another. Another game, another loss. Michigan’s Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman found himself all alone behind the three-point line and drained his shot to make it 51-32, and many spectators ran for the exit doors.

Michigan coach John Beilein took his foot off the gas and allowed his team to coast the rest of the way. In the process, he allowed his players lapses in judgement and effort. By midpoint in the period, the lead was only 59-48 after a Nate Mason field goal. Mason was to finish with 19 points, 13 in the second half, and was the only Gopher offering proof of life.

Then, improbably, Minnesota mounted somewhat of a run. A Dupree McBrayer free throw cut the lead to 70-64 at 4:25. The Wolverines then employed stall tactics to try to close the game out, but a Mason jumper made it 71-66. The Wolverines continued to try to take the air out of the ball, but Mason and Carlos Morris made baskets to pull Minnesota to within 74-72, but only 1:37 remained, and the Gophers folded.

A basket by Abdur-Rahkman and Walton free throws shot Michigan ahead 80-72 with only 20 seconds left. Walton finished with 26 points and Abdur-Rahkman 19.

“We showed great heart,” a bedraggled Pitino said after the game, “but Michigan just made more plays.

“It’s tough to take these losses. Mentally we have to stay hungry.”