Gophers rout Huskers in record fashion, 107-75

Nebraska’s regular season came to a welcomed end at Minnesota on Sunday, and it finished with the same result for the 16th straight time over the past 61 days.

The Golden Gophers went wild with season-highs in points and made 3-pointers (18), including a school-record eight threes by Gabe Kalscheur, as the Huskers extended their program-record losing streak to 16 in a row with a 107-75 defeat in Minneapolis.

The 32-point final margin was NU's largest loss of the season and the second-worst of head coach Fred Hoiberg’s college coaching career. It only trailed a 33-point defeat to Missouri during his first season at Iowa State in 2010-11.

The loss also secured Nebraska as the No. 14 seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis and will face No. 11 Indiana on Wednesday night.

“Defensively, we just never made them uncomfortable enough to win this game,” Hoiberg told the Husker Sports Network.

Nebraska opened the game with six unanswered points, but the early momentum didn’t last long. Minnesota responded by shooting a red-hot 62.5 percent from the field and 7-of-13 from 3-point range in the first half.

The Gophers led by as many as 19 points before settling on a 52-37 halftime lead. They didn’t miss more than three consecutive shots the entire half and made 11 of their final 14 attempts going into the break.

Things only got worse from there, as Minnesota kicked off the second half with a 12-2 run and quickly jumped up by 25 points. Nebraska would go on to trail by as many as 35 points.

Kalscheur ended up with a career-high eight made 3-pointers and hit seven of those after halftime. In all, the Gophers outscored NU 55-38 in the second and shot 52 percent from the field and went 11-for-22 from behind the arc.

Cheatham led Nebraska with 17 points, five rebounds, and four assists, while Jervay Green (15), Thorir Thorbjarnarson (4), and Kevin Cross (10) all finished in double figures.

Kalscheur ended up with a game-high 26 points while going 8-for-11 from behind the arc, while Alihan Demir (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Marcus Carr (18 points, 11 assists) both posted double-doubles.

Nebraska’s first-round Big Ten Tournament game against Indiana will tip-off 25 minutes following the conclusion of the 12-13 game, which starts at 5 p.m. CT.

“Obviously, we’re playing guys a lot of minutes, and I’m asking a lot of them to go out there and try to fight together,” Hoiberg said. “We had seven players eligible to play tonight, and four of those are freshmen…

“Still, it’s no excuse. We still have to find a way to get back and make life more difficult on the defensive end. Like I said, (Minnesota was) just too comfortable.”

1. The impact of the suspensions was obvious

Nebraska went into this game with just seven available scholarship players after starting guards Cam Mack and Dachon Burke were suspended indefinitely for violations of team rules on Saturday.

The Huskers already had a tough road ahead in trying to win its first road game of the season, and having to do so without two of their best players made the task even more daunting.

The seven available players gave it their best, with each playing at least 20 minutes on the day. But NU just did not have the depth or firepower to keep up with a Minnesota team that is far more talented than their season record indicates.

We’ll see whether Mack and/or Burke will return from suspension for the Big Ten Tournament, but that seems extremely unlikely at this point.

“We’ll determine that in the next couple days,” Hoiberg said.

That means Nebraska will have to trot out the same undermanned roster against Indiana, in Indianapolis, to try and extend its season any longer.

2. Nothing worked defensively

The defensive game plan for Nebraska going into Minnesota was the same as it’s been for most every Big Ten game this season – pack the paint to stop the opponent’s best post player and hope for cold perimeter shooting.

For the first 10 minutes, the Huskers kept big man Daniel Oturu – who ranked second in the league at 20.3 ppg coming in – in check, as he didn’t score his first points until the 9:23 mark.

Then everything fell apart. Oturu scored eight points in the final three minutes of the first half, and the Gophers went unconscious with their 3-point shooting, finishing with a school-record 18 on the day.

Minnesota’s previous season-high had been 14 made threes in a win over Northwestern, and it passed that with 6:32 still to play against Nebraska. The 18 3-pointers shattered UM’s previous school record of 16 set back in 2001.

All 13 Gophers scored in the win, and the 107 points were the most scored against a Husker team since TCU scored 101 in the 1999 NIT.

3. All that’s left is Indy

Nebraska has one more guaranteed game left in what has been an absolute disaster of a season.

The usual cliché is that the conference tournament is an opportunity for a new season, so to speak, as every team goes in 0-0 and anyone can get hot and make a run.

But seeing where the Huskers are right now, no one believes a magical run is even remotely in the cards.

This team is exhausted, both mentally and physically, and looks as ready as the fan base to close the book on this year and move on.

Indiana will be playing to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive and will be playing in front of a decent home-state crowd at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Wednesday night has the makings to be one last gut-punch if Nebraska can’t find a way to catch lightning in a bottle.

“I talked to our team about it: the beauty of this time of year when you go into the conference tournament … everybody’s 0-0,” Hoiberg said. “So you should have a renewed spirit. With everything that went into this year, we can put it all behind us and hopefully go in and play with great energy and great spirit and hopefully play well.”