No. 6 Michigan State beats Minnesota 66-61

MINNEAPOLIS — A series of follies in the final minutes by Minnesota wiped out an exceptional effort against No. 6 Michigan State and sent the frustrated Gophers to a disturbingly familiar defeat.

Keith Appling and Brandon Wood both scored 13 points to key Michigan State's 66-61 victory Wednesday night, one that helped the Spartans keep their one-game lead in first place in the Big Ten.

"It just takes the wind out of your sail, because I thought our guys were ready to play," said Gophers coach Tubby Smith, whose team never trailed by more than six points and led for nearly 18 minutes of the second half until turning the ball over at the absolute worst times.

Draymond Green had 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals for the Spartans (23-5, 12-3), who won their sixth straight game in February. Green's only basket of the second half was a pump-fake layup that rolled on the rim and in to tie it at 58 with 1:40 left. He was 4 for 6 from 3-point range before halftime and 1 for 8 from the field in the second half.

Austin Hollins scored 17 points on 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range for the Gophers (17-11, 5-10), who committed 12 of their 15 turnovers after halftime. Julian Welch had four of them to offset 10 points and eight assists. The Gophers beat Michigan State 33-27 on the boards and made 14 of their 15 free throws, but they still couldn't pull out a must-win game for their dying NCAA tournament hopes.

"I'm proud that we found a way to win a game that we didn't deserve to," Spartans coach Tom Izzo said.

Izzo, Green and Wood all called the Gophers a "great" team worthy of the NCAA tournament, but these were the words of emotional, impressionable athletes and coaches after a spirited game, not the mathematical analysis of a room full of suit-wearing selection committee members. Minnesota almost certainly has to beat No. 23 Indiana on Sunday and win at No. 16 Wisconsin next week to stay in the conversation.

The NCAA tournament seemed to be the furthest thing from the minds of these Gophers after this latest meltdown.

"I don't have the answer right now," center Ralph Sampson III said, when asked what caused all the turnovers down the stretch.

As for the formula for saving their season, Sampson said, "it's just fighting hard and coming together as a team at the end and saying, 'We have to stop this from happening.'"