Blake Hoffarber

The Gopher men's basketball team lost 66-63 at Penn State Thursday night to fall to 6-8 in the Big Ten and 17-9 overall. Minnesota trailed by 1 at halftime and by as many as 10 points in the 2nd half before taking a 3-point lead with 2:00 left. Talor Battle hit a key 3-point basket to give Penn State a 62-60 lead and they never trailed again. Battle had 28 points for the Nittany Lions.

The Gopher men's basketball team is expected to have guard Blake Hoffarber available to them when they host Illinois Thursday night. Head coach Tubby Smith says Hoffarber is expected to be okay despite suffering a knee injury Sunday against Ohio State. He wore a brace on his left knee in the 2nd half of Sunday's loss against the Buckeyes. Hoffarber leads the team in scoring averaging more than 14 points a game.

The top ranked Ohio State men's basketball team defeated the 20th ranked Gophers 82-69 at Williams Arena Sunday afternoon. Minnesota trailed by 8 at halftime and fell behind by double figures early in the 2nd half. David Lighty led the Buckeyes with 19 points. Blake Hoffarber led Minnesota with 16 points and both Ralph Sampson III and Chip Armelin had 14 points.

The 16th ranked Gopher men's basketball team defeated Northwestern 81-70 Wednesday night to improve to 16-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten. The win is the 4th straight for the Gophers. Minnesota played without point guard Al Nolen, who is out with a broken bone in his foot. He had surgery Wednesday and is expected to be out 4-6 weeks.

The 25th ranked Gopher men's basketball team defeated #8 Purdue Thursday night at Williams Arena. Al Nolen made the game-winning basket with 3:05 left when he hit a 3-point basket breaking a 67-all tie. No one scored the rest of the way.