Indiana Falls in Closing Seconds at Minnesota

Wednesday, February 15

Minneapolis, MN

9:00 PM

Indiana University

15-12, 5-9

Minnesota

19-7, 7-6

Indiana

Minnesota

2/15/2017 11:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota – The Indiana University men's basketball team was defeated on the road at Minnesota, 75-74, at Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Wednesday evening.

With the loss, Indiana falls to 15-12 on the season and 5-9 in conference play. With the win, the Golden Gophers move to 19-7 overall with a conference record of 7-6.

James Blackmon Jr. led the way for the Hoosiers with 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting. The junior has scored at least 20 points in nine contests this season and 22^nd games in his career. Blackmon Jr. also moved into the top 40 on the all-time scoring list, tying Troy Williams with 1,115 career points.

The Hoosiers were tenacious on the defensive end at the start, holding the Gophers scoreless for the first 3:07 of the game, forcing two turnovers while limiting Minnesota to 0-for-7 from the field. At the under-16 media timeout, IU held an 8-2 lead. Minnesota would connect on just 10-of-34 (29.4 percent) shots in the opening half and turn the ball over eight times.

Early in the first half, Freddie McSwain Jr. threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk off of a drive and dish feed from Juwan Morgan. Josh Newkirk ignited a 12-0 run just a few minutes later with a driving layup. Later in the run he picked the pocket of his man and sprinted down the floor to finish the transition bucket. During the scoring burst, Blackmon Jr. drained a couple of 3-point shots. IU took the lead 22-12 with the run.

After the first 20 minutes of actions, the Hoosiers found themselves on the wrong end of a 33-29 score. Blackmon, Jr. led IU with 12 points and five rebounds at the break. Newkirk chipped in nine points in the first frame.

Despite battling through foul trouble De'Ron Davis was able to score 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting while ripping down five rebounds. The freshman showed great footwork, scoring on a handful of post moves to keep the game close.

After a pair of Thomas Bryant free throws gave Indiana the lead with 17 seconds to play, Minnesota was able to make a contested layup, off of an offensive rebound, to regain the 75-74 lead with just over three seconds remaining.

Off of a timeout, head coach Tom Crean designed a play for Blackmon Jr. to get a shot. The junior raced down the court, put up a highly contest jumper as the buzzer sounded that fell wide left.

The Indiana Hoosiers will be back in action of Tuesday, Feb. 21 when the team heads west to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes at 7:00 p.m. ET at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN.