Minnesota defeats Hoosiers, 66-60

After holding a six-point halftime lead, the IU men’s basketball faltered in the second half, losing 66-60 to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Hoosiers fall to 14-9 and 4-6 in conference play. Minnesota outscored Indiana 36 to 24 in the second half.

Indiana had four players scored in double figures, led sophomore guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell’s 14 points. Ferrell struggled from the field, however, making on 5-of-16 shots from the field, and 2-of-9 3-point attempts.

Freshman forward Noah Vonleh recorded his tenth double-double of the year, scoring 12 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. He also made his only 3-point attempt of the night.

Turnovers ailed the Hoosiers in the second half. Minnesota, which entered Saturday’s contest leading the Big Ten in steals per game, forced the Hoosiers into 11 second half turnovers (IU turned the ball over 16 times overall).

Minnesota’s Deandre Mathieu, who had a game-high 16 points, put the game on ice with a layup with 11.6 seconds remaining in the game that extended Minnesota’s lead to four.

An Evan Gordon missed 3-pointer on Indiana’s next possession sealed the win
for the Golden Gophers.

— John Bauernfeind