Minnesota 80 Rutgers 68
Joey King led four Golden Gophers in double figures with 20 points, as 11th-seeded Minnesota (18-14) pulled away from 14th-seeded Rutgers (10-22) in the second half to advance to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament.
Minnesota guards Nate Mason and Carlos Morris added 15 and 16 points, respectively, and center Maurice Walker chipped in 10 points to go along with 10 rebounds. The balanced scoring effort made up for the lack of production from the Golden Gophers’ leading scorer Andre Hollins, who finished scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting from the field.
“I wish I had the answer,” head coach Richard Pitino said of the senior guard’s performance. “What I don’t like is that he’s not getting to the foul line.”
The Golden Gophers blew open what had been a tight game with a 22-8 run halfway through in the second half. King and Charles Buggs combined for three 3-pointers in a span of 53 seconds at one point during the run.
After King pushed the lead to 43-38 at the seven-minute mark, Buggs hit another three-pointer 18 seconds later. Rutgers’ Junior Etou followed with a pair free throws, then King hit a 3-pointer to give Minnesota a 49-40 advantage.
“We showed great will and determination to win that game,” Pitino said. “They came back, cut it to six, then we kind of took that punch and delivered a very good punch right after that.”
Kadeem Jack led Rutgers with 18 points, while Bishop Daniels and Myles Mack each added 15 points. The Scarlet Knights closed out their first season in the Big Ten with 15 consecutive losses.
Up next: Minnesota gets the chance to avenge a 74-72 overtime loss to Ohio State back on Jan. 6 when they face the sixth-seeded Buckeyes on Thursday night approximately 25 minutes after the 5:30 p.m CT quarterfinals matchup between Northwestern and Indiana concludes.
