Gophers lose grip on upset in final minutes

Make no mistake.

When this disappointing season is finally over, and the Gophers look back at all that went wrong -- through the injuries and shortcomings, the missed shots and failures, there will be one major reason they have fallen short:

With huge chances in their grip, the Gophers -- over and over and over -- have failed to grab them.

For the third time in four games, they gave away a massive opportunity in the final minutes, tumbling to a crushing 66-61 loss to No. 6 Michigan State at Williams Arena after leading most of the way.

With six minutes remaining, the Spartans ignited a 19-7 run that would rip the potential season-saving victory from the Gophers' hands and leave the rattled team searching for answers, once again.

"It's just fighting hard and coming together as a team at the end and saying 'We're going to have to stop this from happening,' " Gophers senior center Ralph Sampson III said. "You've got to get over that final hump at the end and come out with a win."

They've been there so many times. So why can't they do that?

And they didn't have many in the closing minutes, either -- turning the ball over 12 times in the second half and making poor decisions down the stretch.

With 24 seconds left and the Gophers down two, Austin Hollins hoisted a poorly thought three-pointer that didn't come close. The Spartans did not miss the chance to take advantage, getting three fouls and sinking all six free throws.

"It might have been a little too quick," Hollins said of his shot. "The play was to get a shot, maybe a two or a three there. But I might have rushed it a little."

After a strong first half that kept them neck and neck with Michigan State, despite the Spartans getting four three-pointers from Draymond Green, the Gophers (17-11, 5-10 Big Ten) padded a second-half lead to nine on consecutive layups -- which had the Barn rocking -- by Rodney Williams.

Sampson was looking better than he had in almost a month, Hollins had broken out of his scoring slump and the team -- which shot 50 percent in the first half -- had held the Spartans at bay with aggressive zone play.

"Our guys were just nervous," Smith said. "They just panicked. And they turned up the pressure a little bit because they were behind, got a little more physical, a little more aggressive. And we just folded. We folded under pressure."

The Gophers seemed to be eating time on every play -- with six minutes left, playing not to lose.

It didn't work.

Down seven when Gophers freshman Andre Hollins hit three free throws after being fouled outside the arc, Michigan State drew consecutive shooting fouls, hitting three of their four attempts.

Spartans guard Brandon Wood took a steal down the court for a dunk to bring the deficit to two before Green tied the score on a layup and Keith Appling hit two free throws that gave Michigan State the lead over the Gophers, who committed six turnovers in the final six minutes.