Gopher men win at Madison 59-52

Wow! I did not see that coming. Nor did I see the axe coming. Could the Wisconsin jinx be over? Please, let the Wisconsin jinx be over!

And, what an effort. Now, thank goodness the Badgers shot 23 percent in the 1st half, especially in view of the fact that they shot 63 percent in the 2nd. I mean, you knew that was gonna happen, right. But, the Gophers were up 14-11 midway through the 1st half and the Badgers just kept throwing up bricks. And Amir Coffey scored 15 straight Gopher points--a layup, a 3, another layup, a pair of throws, another throw, another 3, another layup!--and suddenly it's 29-14 and just as suddenly it's halftime.

So in the 2nd half--and, again, you knew it, you just knew it--the Badgers start inching back. 31-21. 31-26. But the Brock Stull hits a pair of 3s and its 40-28! And, it's still 49-38, but then it's 49-47 and there are still 3 minutes left to go. OMG! OMG! And then, 6 quick points, 2 by Coffey, and a pair of 2s by Dupree McBrayer, and its 55-47 with 2 minutes left. And, then McBrayer makes 4-of-4 from the line and it's over.

Amir Coffey was incredible, I mean, like, Nebraska incredible. I mean, unstoppable going to the rim. A matchup problem, they said, in the understatement of the night. 21 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 7-of-14 from the field, 5-of-6 from the line. +14.

But, then, Dupree continues to break out of a (previously) season-long shooting slump with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting, 5-of-7 from the line including 4-of-4 inside of 2 minutes.

Wisconsin made it very very tough on the Gophers big guys and so Minnesota won it on the perimeter, thank you very much. Coffey, Dupree, Stull! We outshot Bucky just 44-42 percent overall, but 43-23 from long range. We out rebounded the little bugger 37-25. A 13-8 edge on points off turnovers, a 9-2 edge on 2nd chance points. Bucky gets 2 2nd chance points all night. All before 16,667 screaming Badgers. Incredible. Ski-U-Nah. Please, let the Wisconsin jinx be over.