THE FACTS: Minnesota led for most of the first half, trailed by two at the half and was within six points in the final 10 minutes before Missouri blitzed the Gophers to win by 23, 83-60. This was really
a good game, encouraging for Gopher fans for 31 minutes, but eventually the depth and overall talent of the Tigers came through.
THE STAT: The Tigers finished the game 11/22 from three
TURNING POINT: There were really two turning points in this game. The first was when the Gopehrs led by nine points in the first half and looked in control. Missouri switched to a match-up zone and the Gopher offense struggled to score. There are two encouraging facets to this. One, up until this point, Missouri was unable to stop the Gopher offense. Secondly, they came out immediately in the second half with answers for the zone. Quickly, Dennis Gates had to swap back out of the zone because the Gopher coaching staff had answers.
TURNING POINT II: Is an 8-point possession bad? The last straw came when Minnesota trailed by only six points with 10:15 left in the game. Then the following occurred…
- Luke Northweather hits a three.
- A foul is called away from the ball, giving the ball to Missouri
- Mark Mitchell scores in the paint, getting fouled and a free throw
- Mitchell misses the free throw, but is rebounded by Missouri
- Jacob Crews makes a three after the offensive rebound to complete the 8-point possession
To make matters worse, the Gophers turned the ball over for a Mizzou layup and a 10-point run in a matter of seconds.
At this point, it was over.
HOT: Jacob Crews, off the bench, was 4/6 from three and finished with 14 points.
NOT: Isaac Asuma hit two threes very early in the game, but finished 3/9 from behind the arc.
GOOD MOVE: Dennis Gates moving to the match-up zone changed the first half of the game. This quickly slowed any Gopher momentum as the Tiger’s length and athleticism made it challenging to penetrate in the gaps or get the ball into the middle. Minnesota had an answer after halftime, but this move kept the game close in the first half.
IN SUMMARY: This was my first time being able to watch the 2025-26 Gophers and it was encouraging. This team knows what they are doing offensively. I loved how they played team defense and they will be just fine. They are lacking overall talent to compete against P5 competition after their top three or four guys, but they will win more games than expected and above all else they are an entertaining team to watch.
UP NEXT: Minnesota faced Green Bay at home on Saturday night.
