Perhaps the ugliest game of the season for Minnesota
A chance for another Quad 1 win was within reach for about the first five minutes of the game before Nebraska took over and dominated the Gophers, 73-55 in Lincoln.
Minnesota jumped out to a quick start against Nebraska. Elijah Hawkins put back an offensive rebound on the team’s first possession and Dawson Garcia nailed a three from the corner on the next to open up a quick 5-0 lead on the Cornhuskers. But from that point on, it was all Nebraska.
The Gophers would not make another three-pointer until the second half and the team struggled to find scoring opportunities against a very good Nebraska defense. Minnesota finished the game shooting 6/23 from three and an incredibly low 12/35 from two. Easily the lowest eFG% and offensive efficiency of the season.
Credit is due to Nebraska’s defense, which has been steadily improving throughout the season and was so active throughout Sunday’s contest. Every possession was difficult for the Gophers where the Cornhusker guards were active on the perimeter and their big men were meeting Pharrel Payne and Dawson Garcia with physicality in the paint.
Defensively, the Gophers were solid, holding Nebraska to 39.3% shooting and keeping Keisei Tominaga to just 6 points on 0/4 shooting from three. But their defensive rebounding was ugly and they had no answer for Juwan Gary who scored a season high 22 points to go with 8 rebounds.
Frankly, this was an ugly game that was much more reminiscent of the 2022-23 Gophers than this year’s team. But this is also a venue where Minnesota has struggled. In fact the program is 0-9 at Pinnacle Bank Arena and has not defeated Nebraska on the road since 2012.
The season moves on and this game is one the Gophers need to flush. Up next is a trip to Champaign to face the #13 Fighting Illini on Wednesday evening.