Minnesota Basketball: Gopher losing streak hits 8 after 68-56 loss to Iowa

Kris Murray earned his 6th double-double of the season and he led Iowa to a 68-56 win over the Gophers.

The result was not shocking, the Hawkeyes are cruising toward an NCAA tournament bid, likely in the 6 or 7 seed range. And the Gophers are scuffling through one of the worst Gopher seasons in a generation (or two).

And it was a number of the same issues this Minnesota team has had all season that contributed to the loss on Sunday.

Rebounding was brutally bad. Minnesota had just 2 offensive rebounds (7% of all missed shots) and defensively they only secured about 65% of Iowa’s misses.

Their 14 turnovers to Iowa’s 5, certainly contributed to the loss.

And 7/15 free throw shooting certainly hurt as well.

It was a 2-point game at halftime, and with roughly 8 minutes left Minnesota trailed 50-54. But then a 12-2 Iowa run ensued while the Gophers went those last 8 minutes making only 2 FGs.

The rough season continues as this team is trying to get healthy and trying to find ways to get better. Up next is a trip to East Lansing on Wednesday to face Michigan State. The Spartans are squarely in the tournament for now and working to move up that seed-line.