Gophers fans came to Williams Arena in greater numbers than they had in nonconference for Saturday's Big Ten home opener.
It didn't matter that Minnesota had a losing record.
Williams Arena was the loudest it had been this season, but the Gophers couldn't use the crowd's energy to pull off the upset in a 69-61 loss to No. 1 Michigan State.
The Gophers (0-2, 6-8) suffered losses to South Dakota, South Dakota State and Milwaukee at home, but they gave the Spartans a scare before falling for the sixth time in their past seven games.
Michigan State (1-1, 13-2) was playing its second Big Ten game without leading scorer and national player of the year candidate Denzel Valentine and was trying to bounce back from a 13-point loss at Iowa earlier in the week.