Loss to No. 22 Terrapins extends Gophers' slide to five games

Richard Pitino seldom talks about the NCAA tournament. Well, publicly at least.

But the fourth-year Gophers men's basketball coach told his players and local media this past week that expectations were to make the NCAA tournament, and his team's résumé still put it in good shape to get there.

One loss might not derail those goals. But five consecutive losses will be tough to overcome.

That's how critical the Gophers' 85-78 loss Saturday to No. 22 Maryland before an announced 11,191 at Williams Arena could be going into the second half of the conference season.

"I think they're an NCAA tournament team," Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. "It gets a little bit easier for them moving forward, a few more home games. We had to play as well as we could play to win."

Akeem Springs had 23 points on 9-for-15 shooting to lead the Gophers (15-7, 3-6 Big Ten), who have had trouble in close games of late. Of their six conference losses, five are by single digits, including the past four. They trailed by only a point with a minute left Saturday before the Terrapins (19-2, 7-1) scored the final six points.

In the previous two seasons combined, Minnesota had 17 losses by six points or fewer. "I think there's a trend," Pitino said. "Mentally, we just have to overcome that hurdle."

The Gophers used a 19-1 run to lead by as many as 12 points in the first half, but they let Maryland shoot 64.5 percent in the second half, including 7-for-9 from three-point range.

That makes it three straight opponents to shoot 50 percent or better against the Gophers.

They also entered Saturday leading the Big Ten in three-point percentage defense (29.6), but Maryland went 11-for-18 from beyond the arc.

"I had a few defensive mistakes down the stretch and that really cost us the game," Springs said. "It doesn't matter what you do the rest of the game, if you don't make plays down the stretch then you don't win."

Nate Mason, who had all 14 of his points in the second half, hit a three to put the Gophers up 74-73 with 2½ minutes to play. He also tied it at 76-76 with two free throws.

Jordan Murphy answered, drawing a foul on a layup, but he missed the free throw, keeping the Gophers down a point.

They didn't score again. They initially came up with a defensive stop on the ensuing possession, but Jackson grabbed a missed layup from Melo Trimble, drew the foul and hit two free throws for an 81-78 lead and under a minute remaining.

At that point, it was déjà vu for the home team, with a few missed shots and costly mistakes in the final minute of play.

The Gophers were up 15 points at home against Michigan State, but they fell 75-74 in overtime Dec. 27. They were up 14 at Penn State, but the Nittany Lions took over in crunch time to win 52-50 Jan. 14. A week ago, Wisconsin outplayed the Gophers in overtime to win 78-76 at the Barn.

"Now we're at the halfway point," Pitino said. "We've got five at home and four on the road. Crowd was terrific this afternoon. We just got to go win some games. I'm sure they're pretty down. They should be — losing stings."

Springs couldn't hide his frustration after another loss.

"We're at the point where we're either going to get it done or we're not," Springs said. "That's all it is."