Minnesota Upsets No. 3 Ohio State 84-71
December 15, 2019

Fans rushed the court at Williams Arena for the first time in nearly seven years as the Minnesota Gophers dominated previously unbeaten Ohio State for an 84-71 win. Marcus Carr, who scored only 2 points on 1-for-10 shooting in the Gophers’ conference opener, connected on 12 of 17 from the field and scored 35 points. The win was the first over a top-5 opponent since the Gophers gave their fans a chance to hop on the raised floor and celebrate a 77-73 win over top-ranked Indiana February 26, 2013.

Minnesota’s 72-52 loss at Iowa the previous Monday left the Gophers with a 4-5 record. Ohio State was 9-0 after a 106-74 win over Penn State in its first Big Ten game.

“Start to finish, we played the right way, ” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, who called the effort “as complete a game as we played here. ”

The Buckeyes were without sophomore guard Duane Washington, their second leading scorer, who was out with a rib injury. Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said it wouldn’t have made any difference. “They [the Gophers] were physically tougher,” he said. “We gotta figure out how to coach better and play better going forward.”

Holtmann noted that the team was inconsistent in practice as it dealt with an eight-day layoff during finals week. Cold shooting in the first half hampered the Buckeyes, but the Gophers gave them few good looks at the basket. Alihan Demi and Daniel Oturu bottled up the middle, and the Buckeyes made barely a third of their shots from the field in the half. Minnesota, meanwhile, shot nearly 52 percent from the field in the first half and did even better after intermission, finishing with 31 field goals out of 57 shots for a 54.4 percent shooting rate.

The score remained close in the opening minutes, with the Buckeyes reaching their biggest lead, at 14-11 with 13:15 left in the half. Oturu, Demir, Payton Willis, Gabe Kalscheur, and Tre’ Williams each scored as the Gophers went on a 13-2 run to go ahead 24-16. Minnesota stretched the lead to 11 and finished the half up 38-29. Among the players, the scoring was evenly distributed, Oturu leading with 8 while Demir, Kalscheur, and Carr had 7, and Willis 6.

Minnesota kept its energy level high, expanding the lead to 12 with just over four minutes gone in the second half as Kalscheur put home an alley-oop pass from Carr.

Ohio State’s big man, Kaleb Wesson, went to the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 13:47 left and didn’t return until after the media time out at 7:51. By that time, Minnesota had a 61-47 lead. The Buckeyes never got to within single digits after that. Wesson had 28 points and 10 rebounds versus Penn State. Dogged by fouls and a relentless Minnesota defense, he finished this game with 12 points and 6 rebounds. The only other Ohio State players in double figures both came off the bench to do it, D. J. Carton scoring 19 and E. J. Liddell 14.

For the Gophers, Kalscheur had 15 points while Oturu scored 14 and had 13 rebounds, 7 offensively. The Gophers dominated the boards, outrebounding the Buckeyes 40-28.

In addition to his 35 points, Carr led all players with 7 assists. Pitino said Carr is a confident player, even after his game against Iowa. “He’s not too high, he’s not too low,” said the coach, adding that Carr was a natural choice as team captain, even though he is only a sophomore. “He commands a room, commands a huddle.”

The Gophers next face Oklahoma State, in Tulsa, and return home for a game against Florida International before resuming their conference schedule in January.