Minnesota lost to Michigan State 70-50 in Des Moines. With the loss, Minnesota’s tournament run and season is over. Amir Coffey led all scorers with 27.
Early on, the Gophers were dealt a blow when Jordan Murphy was unable to play with back spasms. Today was the first game of Murphy’s career that he functionally missed. In order to defeat Michigan State, Minnesota needed to have a similar performance from its stars. Losing Murphy was a killer for an already short handed front line.
Without Murphy, Minnesota needed the hot shooting from deep from the game against Louisville as the offense transitioned into an outside shooting team to open up driving lanes.