Gopher Basketball Falls To Michigan State

The Gopher men's basketball team lost 53-48 Tuesday night to Michigan State in what seemed to be a must-win game for both teams if they wanted to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive.  Minnesota led by 7 with 3 minutes left but were outscored 14-1 in the final 3 minutes by the Spartans.  Trevor Mbakwe led the Gophers with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Chip Armelin added 12 points for Minnesota.  The Gophers are 17-10 overall and 6-9 in the Big Ten and have lost 6 of their last 7 games.  Minnesota will host Michigan at 3:30pm Saturday, pregame on AM 1390-the Fan at 3:00.