Brace yourself, Gopher men’s basketball fans, the fast-approaching Big Ten schedule could be even more difficult than previously predicted.
With early league play starting next week, the Minnesota men’s basketball team fell to 4-4 in nonconference play after a 86-75 loss to Santa Clara on Friday in the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Springs, Calif.
Santa Clara, which is picked to finish fourth in West Coast Conference, never trailed and led by 31 midway through the second half. Minnesota’s 20-5 run over the final four minutes masked how bad the score had become.
“We knew going into (Friday) we were going to get pressured and pressed,” head coach Niko Medved said on the KFAN postgame show. “Obviously, it caused us a lot of problems early in the game. I thought they really, really wore us down. It looked like fatigue had set in early. They were shooting it well. We just dug ourselves a hole really, really quickly.”
Minnesota, which was picked to finish 16th in the 18-team Big Ten, opens up early conference play with No. 25 Indiana at Williams Arena on Wednesday, followed by a trip to play No. 1 Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., on Dec. 10.
The Gophers roster might be even more shorthanded next week.
On Friday, the Gophers were already down two starters, center Robert Vaihola (knee) and point guard Chansey Willis (foot). Willis was playing through a foot injury for a couple games, but it forced him to exit the 72-68 loss to Stanford on Thursday.
On top of those two, starting power forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson injured his left ankle and didn’t return late in the second half. He got it re-taped, but the stage of the blowout might have influenced Medved not putting him back in the game.
Santa Clara went on a 14-4 run to lead 42-22 with four minutes left in the half. They were up 51-27 at the half, on the back of 62% from the field.
The Broncos shot 52% from 3-point range (16 of 31) to Minnesota’s 29% from deep (9 of 24).
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