MN Gophers Left Stunned by Badgers

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John Blackwell, Minnesota Gophers
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Niko Medved is going to have plenty of challenges in his first year as head coach of the Minnesota Gophers, as he works to clean up a mess left for him by fired coach Ben Johnson.

Already, he has put up impressive wins against Indiana and Iowa, before recently dropping a tough game against USC over the weekend. Then Tuesday night, the Wisconsin Badgers came to town.

For much of the rivalry game tonight at the Barn, it looked as though the Gophers would gain their fourth Big Ten victory of the season. Instead, they walked out of Williams Arena Friday in shock, with a 75-78 loss in their back pocket.

Crazy finish stuns Minnesota Gophers

With five seconds left and the Golden Gophers down three, Cade Tyson rose up and nailed a three-pointer to tie things at 72, with just a few seconds remaining.

Up to that point, it had been a tough night for Minnesota’s leading scorer, who turned in just 14 points and missed some critical missed free throws down the stretch. For just a moment, he totally redeemed himself… until Wisconsin came back the other way.

The Barn was rocking all night on Tuesday, despite students not yet being back from Winter Break until next week. In fact, the crowd was even louder than last week, in Minnesota’s matchup against #19 Iowa. As is often the case, there was plenty of red in the century-old arena too, which made the ending that much crazier.

Minnesota went into halftime vs Wisconsin up seven points (35-28), after controlling play for most of the first half. Give the Gophers credit, though. The Badgers got the lead back midway through the second half, and looked like it was their turn to pull away.

But they too held strong, and nearly pushed the game into overtime thanks to huge performances from Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (20 pts) and Isaac Asuma (17 pts).

Braeden Carrington returns to The Barn

Brooklyn Park native, and former Minnesota Gophers guard, Braeden Carrington returned to The Barn for the first time since transferring to Wisconsin. He left his home state Gophers forTulsa two years ago, and he was greeted by all of the boos, upon his return wearing Badger red and white.

Coming off the best game of his season so far, when Wisconsin knocking off #2 Michigan over the weekend, Carrington played a massive role in the Badgers’ success again Tuesday vs his old squad, posting a career best 21-points at the Barn.

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