Minnesota Golden Gophers hand No. 7 Michigan men’s basketball team its first loss in a big way on Saturday, 75-57
Liam Robbins and his teammates stepped up in a big way to avoid the repeat.
Robbins had 22 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes to lead No. 23 Minnesota to a 75-57 victory on Saturday, handing No. 7 Michigan its first loss while holding Dickinson to a season-low nine points.
“We challenged Liam: ‘You’re a junior. He’s a freshman. He’s a really good freshman, but you’ve got to act like the junior in this one,'” Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said.
Marcus Carr scored 17 points and Gabe Kalscheur added 10 points for the Gophers (11-4, 4-4 Big Ten), who played their seventh straight game against an team ranked in the Associated Press poll.
Back in their happy place after decisive defeats last week at Michigan and Iowa, the Gophers limited the Wolverines — the best shooting team in the conference — to a season-low score while forcing them into a season-high 20 turnovers.
“We were embarrassed about what happened in Ann Arbor, and we were going to make sure that didn’t happen on our home court,” said the 7-foot Robbins, who made three 3-pointers in the second half and helped hound Dickinson — who has already won the Big Ten’s freshman of the week award five times — into five turnovers with only five shot attempts.
Chaundee Brown Jr. scored 14 points for the Wolverines (11-1, 6-1), who played without senior guard Eli Brooks due to a foot injury.