After upsetting Southern Cal and UCLA on the road, the Gophers returned with a chance to essentially seal a Big Ten tournament bid against Penn State, another team fighting to extend its season into the conference tournament.
The Gophers won the previous meeting in University Park, 69-61, but the Nittany Lions were missing a big piece in that game, 7-foot center Yanic Konan Niederhauser. And, boy, did it make a difference.
Konan Niederhauser just about had his way in the paint and scored a game-high 24 points, to go with seven rebounds, as Penn State Penn State (15-13, 5-12) won the rematch, 69-60, on Saturday at Williams Arena.
Minnesota (14-13, 6-10) didn’t have the size to contend with the center, who missed the last game because of a sprained ankle, and got little scoring from their bigs — even Big Ten co-scoring leader Dawson Garcia (19.7 ppg.), who finished with a game-high 10 rebounds by was 3 for 16 from the field and finished with 11 points, an assist and three turnovers.
Femi Odukale, who picked up two quick fouls and played only 21 minutes, scored a game-high 15 points for Minnesota, keying a late rally that fell short despite the encouragement of a lively, and fairly robust, crowd.
Minnesota had leads of as many as nine points through the game’s first 11 minutes. Then it all kinda came apart for the Gophers, who went without a field goal for the final 9:01 of the first half.
On the other end, the Nittany Lions started playing better offensively, not just making their shot attempts, but passing better, driving effectively and getting the ball to big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser. The Lions outscored the Gophers, 13-2, over the final xx minutes to take their first lead, 28-26, into intermission
The momentum stayed Penn State’s way until the Gophers began chipping away at their deficit with a little more than 5 minutes left. A dunk and free throw by Odukale cut the deficit to nine points and started a 14-5 run that saw Minnesota pull within 60-57 with 1:31 left in regulation.
But Penn State answered by making 6 of 6 free throws, and the game ended when Konan Niederhauser dunked for a three-point play and blocked a shot as time was about to expire.
The Gophers got as close as three points, 60-57
Konan Niederhauser, who missed the Gophers’ 69-61 victory at Penn State because of a sprained ankle, was tough to guard for Minnesota on Saturday. The lanky 7-footer weaved his way through post traffic — and undersized defenders — to score a game-high 24 points. He was 9 for 14 from the floor and made 6 of 7 free throw attempts.
And it wasn’t just Konan Niederhauser. Penn State was strong at the rim in general, while the Gophers often settled for outside shots, sometimes putting up desperation shots as the shot clock was about to expire.
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