In their biggest test of the year, Minnesota got off to a hot start against a then 6-1 Mississippi State team on the road. The Gophers were able to hold on to that lead for just about the entirety of the game, before a thrilling finish saw them come away with an 81-76 victory. Here are three takeaways from the game as Minnesota remained undefeated.

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Although we did see a pair of nearly costly turnovers late in the game, Minnesota turned the ball over just four times total throughout the game. When you're turning it over that little, not only are you giving your team extra shot attempts, but you're also limiting high percentage looks for the opponent going the other way in transition. This smart brand of basketball helps the Gophers get some high quality looks in the half-court, because guys are commonly passing up decent looks to find an even better one for a teammate. This also led to 15 assists on the day, good for a near 4:1 assist to turnover ratio. For reference, Mississippi State had 12 assists compared to 11 turnovers.

Yes, it's expected that Division One basketball players have a high level of fitness, but even with those expectations it's impressive to see every starter outside of Eric Curry play 38 or more minutes. Jamison Battle even played the whole 40 minutes. Minnesota saw just 15 minutes off the bench, while Mississippi State got 45 minutes from their bench, meaning they were bringing in fresh legs while Minnesota's starters had for the whole half. I had predicted that we may see a drop off in performance in the second half due to some fatigue, but even though the Gophers went on a field goal drought for a few minutes, they were still defending hard and finding ways to get to the free throw line to hold their lead. This fitness really showed when Luke Loewe, after playing over 16 minutes straight in the second half, hustled to move his feet and draw a momentum swinging charge with just over 3 minutes to play.

Despite coming away with another win, there's still a glaring downside in Minnesota's game. Their rebounding struggles once again showed, as there were times in the second half where the Gophers were giving up multiple offensive rebounds in a single possession. Minnesota was outrebounded 42-27, including giving up 14 offensive boards to Mississippi State. Minnesota themselves grabbed just four offensive boards. Part of this perhaps came to switching into a couple of zone defenses in the second half, which can make it a bit more difficult for guys to find a body to box out after a shot, as they're defending space rather than a specific player. It doesn't seem to be a lack of effort, but guys are just outmatched in terms of size/length at times, and if you don't have a solid box out you're going to lose that battle more often than not. Missing Sean Sutherlin hurt a bit in this department, as he's someone who comes in and can grab 4-5 rebounds per game. I also think Charlie Daniels is someone who can help in this aspect, but he just doesn't seem to have the offensive impact to get big minutes at this point.

Payton Willis- 24 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds

Jamison Battle- 20 points, 5 rebounds

Luke Loewe- 11 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 0 turnovers

Iverson Molinar- 26 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds

Garrison Brooks- 13 points, 10 rebounds

Minnesota gets Big 10 play started this week as they host Michigan State on Wednesday night at 8pm. The game sees the 7-0 Gophers look to remain undefeated vs the 7-2 Spartans. Gabe Brown leads them in scoring with 12.9 ppg, while the Spartans also feature one of the top freshmen in the Big 10 in Max Christie, who has played more than anybody on the team this year with 29.9 mpg. The game will be aired on the Big 10 Network.

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