It was a must-win game for Indiana with the NCAA tournament just around the corner and the Gophers couldn’t match their energy. At least for the first 32 minutes of the game. The final stretch was a game of its own.
With just over eight minutes left in the game, a switch was flipped and Minnesota looked like a completely different team. Indiana had a 70-43 lead, and it looked like the game was already decided.
The Gophers put together a strong effort to get back into the game and try to soil the Hoosiers’ weekend plans. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. Indiana took the second meeting of the season 84-79.
Senior Sean Sutherlin was giving the Gophers are he could, and it finally started to wear off on the rest of the team. Sutherlin was playing aggressively on both ends of the court, and finished the game with 13 points in 22 minutes.
Senior Payton Willis was able to shoot the Gophers back into the game and hit a game-high seven three-pointers on the way to 28 points. He also had seven assists on the night.
The Hoosiers had their way on offense, and the Gophers didn’t have much going themselves. Senior Xavier Johnson had the hot hand for Indiana in the first half, hitting four three-pointers to help jumpstart the offense.
Johnson slowed down in the second half, but was able to continue to score off free throws late in the game. He led Indiana with 24 points, eight assists and six rebounds.
Minnesota was struggling all game to get stops on a relentless attack that scored at will Sunday. Willis was able to hit a three at the end of the rest half to keep the game within reason.
That didn’t last long. An offense that was already struggling ran into a bigger problem in the second half. It wasn’t solely because of good defensive possessions from Indiana, though the Hoosiers had their fair share of them.
The Gophers were still able to find open shots, the ball just wasn’t finding the bottom of the net.
Indiana didn’t run into that problem. Everything seemed to be falling as Minnesota continued to see the gap expand. The Gophers got down as many as 27 points, but something that’s been evident all year came into play– fight.
Minnesota will conclude its regular season on the road. The Gophers will face Maryland on Wednesday before the season finale against Northwestern on Sunday.
