U settles for almost again in loss at Michigan

It was all too familiar. The favored opponent. The unfriendly crowd. The way the Gophers kept it close in the final minutes.

But no sense of déjà vu mattered more than the way it ended.

On the road against 18th-ranked Michigan, the Gophers weren't blown out, and they certainly weren't embarrassed, but they didn't win either. A 61-56 loss to the Wolverines was, in enough ways, just like the double-overtime loss against Illinois five days earlier: a missed opportunity that left the 12-3 Gophers second-guessing all the little things. They got outrebounded 36-28, and got to the free throw line just eight times compared to Michigan's 23. Once again, the Gophers played a good team on the road, proved they could compete with that team ... and then lost.

"It was pretty much the same, same, same situation," coach Tubby Smith said. "We run a lot of plays, but the players, in the end, have got to score the basket. They've got to get the ball in the hole, and I thought early on we had a problem with that and that was the same problem we had at Illinois. We didn't finish around the basket."

Despite letting Michigan freshman Trey Burke -- who finished with 27 points -- dominate them all day, the Gophers found a way to be in it at the end. With 12 seconds left and the Gophers down by three, Rodney Williams got the ball, stepped behind the arc and flung the team's last real chance at the net. But the shot bounced off, Michigan got the rebound and Maverick Ahanmisi fouled Zack Novak, who sank two free throws to seal the victory.

Unranked Minnesota, which has not beaten a ranked team on the road since January 1985 against Michigan State, came into Big Ten play with a 12-1 record, but without any big victories, the Gophers haven't given critics a reason to believe in them.

In their conference opener, the Gophers nearly staged their first upset, coming back from a second-half, double-digit deficit and taking previously ranked Illinois to double overtime. But the Gophers muffed several opportunities to ice that game, ending up only with a letdown -- instead of a boost -- and after Sunday's repeat, a question: Can Minnesota overcome its sloppiness to win games in the Big Ten?

The Gophers leaped out to an aggressive 6-0 start, but with both Ralph Sampson III and Julian Welch all but absent offensively -- each ending the first half with no points -- the Wolverines, on Burke's 11 points, came bounding back and led 23-19 at the break.

In the second half -- much like the Illinois game -- Sampson and Welch exploded out of the gate, but their 17 combined points weren't enough to give the Gophers the boost they needed. After tying it with eight minutes left on a Williams free throw, the Gophers played one step behind the rest of the way, leaving the almost-tangible thought of being 2-0 in the Big Ten in the dust.