2 points, 10 minutes, 1 loss

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota used a 16-2 run to start the second half on its way to a 70-65 win Wednesday in "The Barn" in Minneapolis.\nIU coach Mike Davis said his team panicked a little bit to cause Minnesota's run as two points, on junior Bracey Wright's basket, were the Hoosiers' only points until 9:35 to go in the game.\n"Defensively, (Minnesota) really guarded the three-point line," Davis said. "Their defense is really good this year."\nSix Golden Gophers contributed to the run including five points each from Jeff Hagan and Dan Coleman that pushed Minnesota ahead from a one-point lead at half to a 15-point advantage at 47-32.\nFrom there, IU battled back. The Hoosiers used a trapping defense to try and get back in the game as they cut the lead to eight with five minutes to go. Eight straight points from freshman forward Robert Vaden aided the Hoosiers in that stretch. Vaden attempted to get the Hoosiers back in the game including two back-to-back threes and a basket from freshman center D.J. White with a foul. But all of the Hoosiers efforts just cut the Gopher lead to seven.\n"We fought," White said. "We've been in this situation before and we just fought as hard as we could to get back in the game."\nThe Gophers leading scorer, Vincent Grier, countered IU's mini-run. Grier scored from 15-feet and was fouled on the jumper by junior guard Marshall Strickland. Grier made the free throw and put the Gophers back up by 10. IU used a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to five, but Vaden missed an open three pointer and Wright fouled after a White miss as it appeared the Gophers would win going away.\nBut the Hoosiers battled back. White kept pounding away in the paint and scored seven straight to cut the Gopher lead to six. A steal off IU's full court press by freshman A.J. Ratliff cut the lead to four after his two free throws. \n"I thought our young guys fought hard and never gave up," Davis said. "That was really key for us -- going on the road and having a chance to win. I thought we had that chance with about three minutes to go in the game." \nIU cut the lead to four three times in the final 58 seconds and cut it to three with 14 seconds left. But Wright missed two three pointers in the final minutes and the Gophers' J'son Stamper tracked down both rebounds to ice the win.\n"We probably should've taken it to the basket a few more times," Davis said. "We took a few quick three point shots."\nWright scored 19 points, but only shot 6 of 21, including 0 for 10 from the three point line. White led IU with 23 points on 10 of 16 shooting. Vaden chipped in 13. \nIU dropped to 9-8, 4-2 in the Big Ten while the Gophers improved to 14-5, 4-2 in the conference.\nThe first half featured a back-and-forth tone with five ties and 10 lead changes before Minnesota gained a slight advantage, leading 31-30 at the break. Wright was held scoreless for the first 15 minutes of the first half before he scored eight points in the final five minutes. \n"We just didn't start the second half out strong," Vaden said. "We tried to fight our way back -- we just came up a little bit short."\n-Contact staff writer John Rodgers at jprodger@indiana.edu.