The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team knew exactly what they were getting into when they traveled to Madison tonight to take on Wisconsin. The Kohl Center, Wisconsin’s home arena, is among the toughest venues to compete in within the Big Ten Conference, and Wisconsin is known for its consistency in defending its home turf, particularly against its biggest rivals.
Tonight, the Gophers had the chance to find out where their level of performance ranks without their leading scorer, senior Cade Tyson. Tyson is currently out due to an ankle injury.
Both Wisconsin and Minnesota headed into this night’s match up for completely different reasons under extreme pressure to perform. Wisconsin needed to keep itself atop the Big Ten standings, and Minnesota has worked all year long to build momentum in order to produce consistent games. In some cases, the Gophers have shown that they are able to compete with other top ranked programs, but recently have found it difficult to achieve success while on the road.
Standout Performances
Junior Bobby Durkin established an offensive rhythm for Minnesota tonight against Wisconsin by scoring effectively, making multiple early baskets, and hitting his three-pointers with accuracy. Durkin led the team with 20 points. Minnesota was able to manage possessions and keep their rhythm because of junior Jaylen Crocker-Johnson’s contributions on the boards and senior Langston Reynolds’ facilitation of plays in transition.
Game Changer
Minnesota was severely hurt by a number of obvious mistakes, the most obvious ones being rushed shot attempts and early turnovers, which allowed Wisconsin to convert their own team’s defensive effort into easy scoring opportunities. The missed rebounding on the offensive boards along with poor timing of transition created problems for the Gophers to capitalize on much of their good momentum.Â
What’s Next
This game is the final installment of this season’s rivalry match up, unless these two teams meet in the Big Ten tournament. Minnesota will not face off against Wisconsin again in the regular season.
Next up, Minnesota travels to take on Penn State on Sunday.
