For a second straight half, the inability of Ben Johnson and his coaching staff to come up with working second half adjustments doomed the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a blowout 80-59 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers.

After letting a win slip out of their fingers against Ohio State earlier this week, Minnesota found themselves in a similar situation on Friday against the Badgers. At halftime, it was a close game, 30-29 at the break. It was a great back-and-forth first half where the Gophers were once again competing with one of the Big Ten's better programs.

Then, all their good work in the first half quickly unraveled in the second half.

The Badgers would outscore the Gophers 50-30 in the final 20 minutes of action while shooting 57.7% from the floor including 53.3% from three-point range. The Gophers also sent Wisconsin to the free throw line for 17 attempts in the second half.

Below, Gophers Nation offers a trio takeaways from the latest loss for Minnesota.

A major reason for the Gophers' struggles this season has been the inconsistent play of their top players. When Dawson Garcia is on his game, AMike Mitchell Jr. seems to struggle. When Mike Mitchell Jr. has been healthy and on his game, Garcia is off his own. Rarely this season have the two been having success at the same time.

That was once again the case on Friday night.

Dawson Garcia bounced back from a poor performance with 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting and also had 10 rebounds. Mike Mitchell Jr, however, struggled shooting 2-of-7 for just five points while also recording one rebound and one steal in 30 minutes of action.

Ultimately, it's hard to win any game when you're getting some inconsistencies from the top of your lineup.

We mentioned it above, but this is the second straight game in which the Gophers have been completely outclassed when it comes to second-half adjustments. Part of it comes down to talent; the Gophers are far from the most talented team in the Big Ten, but the lack of solid adjustments from Ben Johnson and the rest of his staff has been completely baffling.

In the first half, the Gophers came out buzzing and ready to go, they went toe-to-toe with a very good Badgers team. But as the first half to an end, it was evident that A) the Gophers were losing steam and B) Wisconsin was already adjusting to the Gophers.

In the second half, the Badgers had a clear plan of attack for the Gophers, and for the most part, it was a no contest. Wisconsin put together four runs of 7-0 or better in the second half and it was only a Gophers 10-2 run when the game was already out of reach in the final three minutes that shortened the final margin of defeat from 29 points to 21 points.

While players need to execute gameplans and adjustments, the poor performances in each of the last two games in the second half falls directly on Ben Johnson

Let's say it how it is. Ben Johnson's job security might just be at an all-time low. While the Gophers are 8-8 this season, they're now 0-5 in conference play. Of those five defeats, four of them were double-digit losses, their average margin of defeat in those five losses is 15 points. When not including their 89-88 loss to Ohio State, that margin of defeat increases to 18.5 points. They simply outside their loss to the Buckeyes have been non-competitive in Big Ten play, to an embarrassing level.

When looking at their statistical rankings, it paints an ugly picture.

Field Goal percentage - 218th

Three-Point Percentage - 292nd

Free-Throw Percentage - 360th

Total Rebounds - 378th

Steals - 319th

Turnovers - 329th

Personal Fouls - 210th

Points Per Game - 322nd

While Minnesota put together a strong 2023-24 campaign that saw them go 19-15 and finish among the top third in the country in most statistical categories, that has so far been an anomaly.

There is also zero reason to believe that anything is going to change, at least drastically, for the Gophers. Their schedule doesn't get any easier. Each of their next five opponents—Maryland, Michigan, Iowa, Oregon, and Michigan State—is a potential NCAA Tournament team. Three of those games, Maryland, Iowa, and Michigan State, are on the road.

While the Gophers have shown potential at times in Big Ten play, the end results are hard to argue against and based off the results thus far, it's extremely hard to pick the Gophers to win any of their next five matchups.

In fact, KenPom doesn't like the Gophers chances at all over the remainder of the season. Their highest chance of a win according to KenPom is 53% on February 1 against a poor Washington Huskies squad. Outside that matchup, their next highest chance of a win is in late February against Northwestern at 36% and Penn State at 34%. As of now, KenPom has the Gophers finishing with a 1-19 conference record which could put their overall record at 9-22.

That would mark the Gophers third losing season in four years under Johnson and their second 9-22 campaign in three seasons. If the Gophers do in fact continue to struggle at this pace for the remainder of the season, it's hard to see in any way that Johnson could survive this season.

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