Men’s basketball preview: Gophers limp towards end of season in road tilt against Nebraska

The Gophers lost to arguably the worst team in the Big Ten by eight points, calls for Richard Pitino’s ousting are growing louder, the team has played its way out of the NCAA Tournament field after being ranked as high as #16. So, I guess you could say it’s business as usual around here.

They now need to win out the rest of the way to even have a chance to make it into the tournament, which would mean winning twice on the road ... something they haven’t done yet this year. They are also missing their top defender and potentially their starting center.

It’s pretty much over folks. Nebraska is terrible, but so was Northwestern. And for anyone watching the game on Thursday it was clear that this team has no idea how to play basketball anymore. How they handed Michigan its only loss of the year is one of this season’s true mysteries.

Save yourselves.

Essentials:

Opponent:

Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-17, 1-14)

Date and Time:

Saturday, Feb. 27 @ 6 p.m. CT

Location:

Pinnacle Bank Arena

TV:

BTN

Radio:

KFAN 100.3-FM

Tell me more about the opponent.

The Gophers beat Nebraska by 18 in a game that no one would ever say represented good basketball. The Huskers were missing one of their top players in Teddy Allen that night, and could be a factor tonight. He’s been up and down, though, scoring a ridiculous 41 points two nights ago and following it up with 5 against Illinois.

Nebraska is bad, let’s not forget that, and this is Minnesota’s best shot at securing a road win this season. But anyone who watched on Thursday will tell you that this Gopher team would have a hard time beating any Power 5 team right now, let alone one that has won just once since Dec. 17.

Predictions

Thursday was bad. Like, really bad. Either this team digs deep and beats a bad opponent by a dozen or the swirl continues and they lose without showing interest. I’m betting on the latter.

If Robbins can go, it’s a different story. But Marcus Carr looks like he’s ready to hang it up and this team still frustratingly smashes its face against the wall trying to get three pointers to go in that never have and never will.

Nebraska 78 | Minnesota 68