Looking at the replays, and the screen shots, I believe that Traevon Jackson's winning shot did get off before the shot clock expired. It was close, no doubt, very close.
But even if he hadn't – it's hard to call that the game when the Gophers had a bevy of chances that they systematically disregarded.
For example, the play before The Shot – when Minnesota had a chance to retake the lead, but instead Andre Hollins was called for a charge, giving Wisconsin back the momentum.
Oh, remember that the Gophers also shot 34.8 percent from the field, that they got just 29 rebounds, that they fouled seven times in the first 3:32 of the second half, that they got just six points total from three of the five starters?
Yes, there was more to this fourth consecutive loss than just the final three plays, although all of which were pretty ugly from the Gophers' perspective: first, the charge call for Hollins, then the Jackson shot at the tail end of the shot clock, and a wobbler, no less, then Rodney Williams being picked to go to the line, and bricking his second attempt, sealing the Wisconsin win.
The game was close, but had the Badgers shot much better than the Gophers, it wouldn't have been. And after this many shoddy performances in a row, it's time to accept that it's more than just iffy ref calls that have done this once-promising team in.
That Williams has been so absent during this stretch is a real problem for the Gophers. Austin Hollins' struggles were extremely meaningful as well. It's tough to win with just two productive members of the starting lineup, as the Gophers had today with Andre Hollins (20 points) and Trevor Mbakwe (eight points, 10 rebounds).
The team keeps saying that it's just a matter of cleaning up the little things, but the fact is, all the little things – the poor shooting, the turnovers, the fouls, the mental mistakes, the defensive lapses, the offensive sluggishness -- have piled up to one very big thing: a legitimate slump.
