When Maverick Ahanmisi heard the cliché commentary after Tuesday's close loss against Illinois, it sounded a little too familiar.
After all, the Gophers' 2010-11 season – which was peppered with close losses in the season's second half –fostered similar sentiments.
"It was a competitive game." "It was a tough fight." "You can play with them – you'll get them next time."
In the end, of course, the losses simply became a disappointing season full of missed opportunities and no tournament bid. When the double overtime game on Tuesday ended, and the score was tilted on the Illini's side, parts of last year flashed back for Ahanmisi.
"It was tough for me as an individual to get over that kind of loss," he said. "I'm just thinking about last year, we had games like that. People said, 'It's just one game.' In my mind we said that last year and it didn't work out that well for us. But this year, we're a different team. We're going to fight back."
That's the Gophers' hope, anyway. After showing they can be competitive, the next step is to finish off a win. Tuesday, the Gophers had a solid second half and first overtime, but they were plagued early and late by the same troubles they've had all season: turnovers, poor shooting and a slow start.
With one game behind them as a model, the Gophers hope they can mend some of those issues on the fly as they head to Ann Arbor to face No. 18 Michigan on Sunday.
"We're a young team," Ahanmisi said. "That was a test for us. It was the first game in the Big Ten for some guys. We understand now how tough it is to play in the Big Ten. A game is never over."
