Seeking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Northwestern on Sunday, the No. 20 Gophers welcomed No. 18 Purdue Boilermakers to the barn Thursday night.
In front of an excited home crowd and a national television audience, the Gophers got off to a slow start. As expected, both teams were gridlocked by stringent defenses. But the Boilers slowly managed to pull away.
Freshman point guard Lewis Jackson wiggled his way past the Gophers' perimeter defenders and found E'Twaun Moore beyond the arc. Moore connected on the deep ball for three of his 16pts. This brought the Boilers' lead to 27-15 with just under 6 minutes to play in the first half. Jackson finished with 12 pts of his own.
Miraculously, the Gophers found themselves only down by 7 at the break, while shooting a dreadful 8-22 from the field and recording a mere 3 assists to their 12 turnovers.
In the 2nd half Purdue's ubiquitous defense continued to stymie Minnesota's offense, who in turn began jacking up quick shots in desperation. Even when the Gophers showed flashes of patience on the offensive end they were held to contested jump shots.
In one of Minnesota's worst shooting performances of the year, they converted on less than 28% of their shots from the floor and were 3-19 from long range. Al Nolen led the Gophers with 17pts, thanks to a 10-10 night from the free throw line.
Purdue's lead grew as large as 17pts, but the Gophers were able to manufacture a late comeback. With 40 seconds to go, Damian Johnson floated a pass to Nolen underneath the rim who converted a lay up amongst bigger defenders to cut the lead to 66-60.
But Purdue made enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for a 70-62 win.
JuJuan Johnson had a game high 19pts and 8rebs for the Boilers who improved to 4-2 in the Big Ten.
The Gophers, who have now dropped their second consecutive game, will have a good opportunity to put an early end to this rough spell against an Indiana squad, who is winless in Big Ten play, Sunday on the road.
Gopher Blog Writer: Michael Rietmulder
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