The Minnesota Golden Gophers hoped to snap their five-game losing streak at Williams Arena on senior night, but it wasn't meant to be as they fell to No. 12 Wisconsin, 74-67, on Tuesday night.
Brennan Rigsby led the way for the Gophers with 18 points, following up his 20-point performance on Saturday. The Oregon transfer shot 6-for-10 from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-point range. Lu'Cye Patterson added 15 points, Dawson Garcia chipped in 14, and Frank Mitchell posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Offensively, the Gophers shot a respectable 41.3% from the field, but their defensive struggles were evident, particularly against Wisconsin guard John Blackwell, who torched them for 25 points and 11 rebounds. Fellow guard John Tonje added 18 points, while forward Steven Crowl was the only other Badger in double figures with 10 points.
The late-season Big Ten matchup got off to an ominous start with Wisconsin using a 12-0 run to take a 12-3 lead in the opening five minutes. However, the Gophers responded with a 9-0 run to tie it at 12-12. The Badgers would reclaim the lead shortly after and eventually took a 33-27 advantage into halftime after a closely played first half.
Coming out of the halftime break, Wisconsin extended its lead to double digits early in the second half, going up 46-35 with 13 minutes remaining. Minnesota hoping to pull off an upset of the No. 12 Badgers, would storm back from the double-digit deficit with an 11-0 run in just over 90 seconds, fueled by eight points from Rigsby.
Minnesota's strong run midway through the second half would include taking the lead twice with under 10 minutes to play. However, a pair of Carter Gilmore free throws with 6:11 left gave Wisconsin a lead they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the evening.
Following Gilmore's free throws, the Gophers would be unable to gather any momentum. While Wisconsin used a 5-0 run from the 1:48 to 0:36 marks to effectively ice the game en route to the final score of 74-67.
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With the loss, Minnesota drops to 15-15 overall and 7-12 in Big Ten play. The Gophers will conclude their regular season on Sunday afternoon against Rutgers in Piscataway before heading into next week’s Big Ten Tournament.
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