Minnesota let one slip away in Columbus.
With the game tied and just seconds left in regulation, Langston Reynolds drove hard to the rim and put up a layup that either caught the back iron or was altered by a Buckeye hand - possibly goaltending, possibly clean. The officials only had two angles to work with, and with no definitive view, the call stood.
No bucket. No whistle.
Overtime.
And in that extra five-minute stretch, it was all Ohio State. The Buckeyes outscored the Gophers 15-7 in the extra session, handing Minnesota its fourth straight loss - and another one that stings.
Head coach Niko Medved didn’t hide the frustration postgame.
“A heartbreaker for us here tonight,” Medved said. “It’s crazy - we’ve now lost three games this way.”
He’s not wrong. Minnesota’s recent stretch has been brutal in terms of late-game heartbreak. They fell to USC in overtime, dropped another one at the buzzer against Wisconsin, and now this - a game they had chances to win in regulation, and again in overtime, only to come up short.
“We got a good look at the rim and got an offensive rebound,” Medved said of the final sequence in regulation. “We just couldn’t get the job done.”
Still, there’s a sliver of encouragement in the way this team continues to fight. Despite the losses stacking up, the Gophers have been in position to win each of these games. But as Medved pointed out, it’s the little things - the loose balls, the defensive stops, the rebounding - that are making the difference late.
“Ultimately tonight we just couldn’t find a way to get enough stops and rebounds,” he said. “They just got a lot of key loose balls down the stretch.”
Ohio State’s backcourt was a problem all night. Bruce Thornton, the Buckeyes’ floor general, played like the veteran leader he is, dictating pace and making big plays when it mattered most. And freshman John Mobley Jr. - a known threat coming in - still found ways to hurt Minnesota despite being a focal point of the defensive game plan.
“We knew the game plan on John Mobley Jr.,” Medved said. “We just couldn’t get to him enough, and obviously those guys really, really hurt us.”
For Minnesota, the challenge now is regrouping. They’ve played well enough to win in recent weeks, but the results haven’t followed. And in a Big Ten where every game is a grind, close losses can pile up quickly.
There’s no question the effort is there. But the Gophers need results - soon - to keep their season from slipping further away.