Minnesota Basketball: Ohio State dominates 2nd half and blows out Gophers 70-45

THE FACTS: After leading by 2 a the half, the Minnesota Gophers were completely overmatched in the 2nd half and lost 70-45 to Ohio State in Columbus. Scoring only 20 points in the 2nd half, Minnesota had no chance of keeping up with the Buckeyes

THE BOX SCORE: HERE

KEY STAT: Three point shooting for both teams was really significant. The Gophers, for the game shot just 5/19 from three (26.3%) but it was going 1/8 in the 2nd half that really hurt them. On the other side, Ohio State was 9/15 in the 2nd half and shot 43.5% for the game.

THE TURNING POINT: Well, halftime was a pretty significant turning point. It is pretty difficult to turn a 2-point lead into a 25-point loss. But a 20-47 second half is really ugly.

HOT: Luke Loewe is turning into the team’s most reliable third option and maybe one of the team’s most consistent offensive players over the last couple weeks. Through the first 14 games of the season Loewe was averaging 6.5 points per game. After leading the team in scoring last night he has now been averaging 11.75 over the last 8 games, hitting double-digits in 6 of those 8.

NOT: Payton Willis struggled last night in Columbus shooting just 2/11 for the game. No knock on Willis, he’s been great this year and everyone has a bad game. But

UP NEXT: As part of a stretch were the thin Gophers have 4 games in 8 days, they will head to Penn State on Thursday afternoon.