People don't like the words "must-win." And technically speaking, tonight's game against Wisconsin isn't.
But the Gophers are going to have to pull off some upsets down the stretch if they want a chance at the tournament – and this may be as good an opportunity as any.
In order to finish .500, the Gophers will need to go 4-3 in their final seven games (including tonight) and that assumes beating Northwestern on the road, Nebraska at home and at least two currently ranked teams.
These are the options: The Gophers face Wisconsin tonight, and then Indiana, Ohio State and Michigan State at home and have to head to Kohl Center in Madison for another game against the Badgers.
Ohio State will be an incredibly hard game, as will Michigan State – those games are tough matchups for the less-physical Gophers regardless of the arena played in. Playing at Kohl Center will obviously be the tougher game of the two against Wisconsin. That leaves home against Indiana – a team the Gophers have already proven they can beat on the road – and tonight.
Tonight's game will be tough too, but it represents a real opportunity that would help to put less pressure on the Buckeyes and Spartans games. Can the Gophers seize the chance?
Three things that will be key to that:
1. Dictating the pace. The Badgers like to slooowwww things down. But the Gophers have always looked best when they're running and playing up-tempo. If they can enforce that early, they'll have a chance.

2. Guarding Jordan Taylor. Not only is the senior leading the team in points, he's on pace to shatter the NCAA assist-to-turnover ratio. If he gets his hands on the ball too much, it could be trouble for the Gophers.

3. Crowd. The Gophers had their first sell-out against Illinois a couple of weeks ago, and the intensity was felt throughout the building. A big part of home-court advantage is the life in the "home."
"I don't like where we sit," Gophers coach Tubby Smith said. "I don't like that we're under .500 in the league. We've had some tough losses, but I really don't pay much attention to brackets this time of year. I just want to make sure our guys are taking care of practices every day. They've got enough to think about and we're in a position where that's all we can focus on because we're a team that has to do a lot of work. We've got a lot of things we've got to accomplish between now and ... the rest of the season if we want to accomplish anything at all."