Rebounds, missed free throws and a quiet second half from sophomore Jamison Battle led to a heartbreaking loss Wednesday night.
No. 13 Wisconsin held off a hard-fought effort by the Gopher men’s basketball team in the final border battle of the regular season. Minnesota gave the Badgers all they could but couldn’t take advantage of multiple opportunities to take the lead late.
The Gophers got outrebounded 38-19, including the biggest offensive rebound of the night. Down two with under a minute left, Minnesota got the stop it needed only to see the ball roll into junior Tyler Wahl’s hands for his tenth rebound of the night.
A last-second three from senior Luke Loewe allowed the Gophers to lose by just one point at 68-67.
Battle was on a mission in the first half, scoring a game-high 14 points. He was determined to get to the hoop to give Minnesota every chance they could. He basically disappeared in the second half, scoring just three points.
“He’s a really good player, he got going early. Part of that was him, part of that was us, but that’s what good players do,” Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard said. “Second half, I thought we were a little better defensively and made things a little more difficult.”
Senior Payton Willis was held out of the starting lineup after missing the last game with COVID-19. He scored just two points in the first half but was a big factor in the late comeback in the second.
Willis hit a pair of threes in the midst of an 8-0 run to tie the game with under five minutes left. He finished the night with 13 points, six assists and four rebounds.
Minnesota had multiple opportunities to take the lead on free throws that just couldn’t get knocked down. They shot 13-19 from the charity stripe and lost by just one point.
“I thought he [Willis] gave us everything he had. I thought all our guys did, that’s the tough part,” head coach Ben Johnson said. It’s just the end of the game, those little details, we gotta continue to hit on and touch on and figure a way to flip that narrative.”
Senior Eylijah Stephens hit some big shots in the first half, including a three in the closing seconds of the half to go into the break trailing by just two. Stephens connected on two three-pointers and had 10 points at the half.
Stephens hit another three in the second before running into foul trouble. He finished with 13 points before fouling out.
Senior Brad Davison and sophomore Johnny Davis wouldn’t get much going in the first half. Senior Sean Sutherlin played outstanding against one of the nations’ best in Davis and held him to just 12 points before Davis fouled out.
“I thought it was big-time… to hold that kid [Davis] to 12 points on 3-9… Sean’s [Sutherlin] one of those guys where he takes it personal,” Johnson said. “I thought Sean’s effort was phenomenal, again, to do what he did against Johnny [Davis] … Sean’s got a lot of fight to him.”
Davison was also relatively quiet all night on the offensive end but hit a pair of clutch free throws down the stretch to help push Wisconsin past Minnesota.
On top of the large rebound difference, the Badgers did their damage in the paint behind Wahl and sophomore Steven Crowl. Wisconsin took a 36-20 advantage in the paint much in part to a game-high 20 points from Crowl. Wahl didn’t have as much luck in the second half, scoring just two points to finish with 12.
The Gophers will have their final home game Sunday when they host Indiana and try to even out their season series with the Hoosiers before their final two regular-season road games.
