4 Encouraging Signs from Minnesota's Loss at No. 3 Michigan

Stop me if you've heard this before, but Minnesota had another encouraging first-half effort before falling short 77-67 at No. 3 Michigan. Here's what we learned.

Impressive preparation and gameplan

Michigan has been the most impressive Big Ten team this season by a wide margin. With six scholarship players out, the Gophers easily could've looked overwhelmed playing the Wolverines on the road. That was not the case, and they did not look like a 22.5-point betting underdog in the first-half. Minnesota's 3-2 zone had the Wolverines completely out of sync.

Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg is nearly a lock to be an All-American, and he did not attempt a shot in the first 13 minutes of the game, and he was scoreless in the first half. The Gophers are simply not built to compete with a team like the Wolverines for 40 minutes in their current state. But they did not back down with a 32-28 halftime deficit.

Three-point shooting

Minnesota clearly came into Tuesday night's game with the idea of successful three-point shooting being its clearest path to victory. Bobby Durkin made multiple threes for the 10th straight game, and Cade Tyson had a game-high 20 points with five made threes. Grayson Grove and Langston Reynolds are not the best three-point shooters, but Minnesota's other three starters continue to show encouraging signs from three.

cade's got 15 tonight

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/NJRFiWyIBw
— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) February 25, 2026

Lack of frontcourt size

Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr. and 7-foot-3 Aday Mara give Michigan one of the most daunting frontcourts in the country. Grove is the only healthy player on Minnesota's roster taller than 6-foot-8, and their lack of size was clearly apparent with a 39-18 deficit in rebounds. The Gophers don't need a frontcourt comparable to Michigan, but improving their size should be near the top of Niko Medved's priorities this offseason.

Michigan is inevitable

The Wolverines are undoubtedly one of the best college basketball teams in the country. It was clear that the Gophers had to work much harder for any bucket they got, and it felt inevitable that Michigan was going to go on a run at some point. That eventually came in the second half, but Minnesota kept fighting. The Wolverines were able to clinch a share of this year's Big Ten title on Tuesday night, but the Gophers made them earn it. Their KenPom and NET metrics will now likely improve with just a 10-point loss on the road against the third-ranked team in the country.