The Gopher men's basketball team's NCAA hopes took another hit Thursday in a 69-60 loss to No. 7 Michigan Thursday night at Williams Arena.
The Wolverines held the Gophers to 18 first-half points and held off a late surge for the win, tying them with Michigan State for first place in the Big Ten.
Jordan Murphy scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for the Gophers, who fell to 7-9 in the Big Ten with their fifth loss in six games.
"It felt like the weight of the world was on our shoulders and we kind of couldn't get out of our own way," said Gopher coach Richard Pitino. "We dug a hole, tried to fight back, but it was just too big of a hole."
Trailing by as many as 18 points in the second half, the Gophers (17-10, 7-9 Big Ten) went on a binge of seven points in a little over a minute to pull to within 53-40 on a steal and dunk by DuPree McBrayer.
But a pair of three-point baskets by Jon Teske gave the Wolverines breathing room again.
Jordan Poole led the Wolverines (24-3, 13-3) with 22 points, 15 of them on shots made from beyond the arc.
The Gophers have four games remaining on the regular season schedule, three on the road, starting with Sunday night at Rutgers. Their lone home game is March 5 against Purdue.
"Excited about Rutgers, excited about kind of getting back, getting these guys' confidence going," Pitino said.