Gophers Come Up Short in Madison When It Mattered Most

The Gophers had their opportunities to win a low-scoring and very close basketball game in the Kohl Center but came up short when it mattered most. I'm tempted to stop typing and publish just that first sentence, but I'll go on with the gory details.

Andre Hollins rebounded from his miserable game at Northwestern with a very good game this afternoon in Madison. He scored nearly half of the Gopher point total with 20, and considering how few possessions you get against Wisconsin scoring 20 is like scoring 35 in a game with normal tempo. but his 20 points are going to be lost in the discussion because when the game was tied Andre got out of control going to the basket and was called for a charge. It was only his third turnover of the game but it was critical.

Austin Hollins was able to not foul out today but his 1/10 shooting included a breakaway dunk that was missed early in the second half. Austin did contribute with four assists but his two points on 10% shooting is tough for this team to overcome.

Rodney Williams's struggles continued in Big Ten play. He was 0/6 from the floor scoring 2 points, grabbing 4 rebounds and contributing 1 assist. But what will keep Rodney (and Gopher fans) awake tonight will be the free throw he missed with 1.8 seconds remaining that would have tied the game. Shooting free throws is not a great strength of his but the senior forward had an opportunity to send this game into OT and he came up short.

So who did well today? Well, I'd tip my hat to some of the bench, particularly Andre Ingram who played 20 minutes, played pretty good defense and grabbed 5 boards. Trevor Mbakwe had a solid game against a defense that made it difficult to get the ball into the post. Mbakwe finished with 8 points and 10 boards.

But really everyone came up short today. It was a low-scoring game where every possession was critical. The Gophers failed to finish the game. They had a 2-point lead with 90 seconds left and Andre Ingram at the free throw line. He missed the front end and Traevon Jackson scored on the following two Badger possessions. He got it done when it mattered most. The Gophers had a very real opportunity to steal a big road win, but failed. The losing streak is at four with a couple home games on the schedule this week to bounce back.

GoAUpher was at the game with a press pass, he may have more to say on the game with quotes and a report from the losing team's locker room. Until then, use this for the meltdown thread.