5 Key Takeaways From Minnesota's Convincing Win Over Rutgers

The Gophers used just six players before garbage time for the second straight game, but they took down Rutgers 80-61 for their second straight win. Here's what we learned.

Matching up bottom of the Big Ten

There has been a clear divide in the Big Ten standings this year, and Minnesota might be the buffer team. Rutgers, Maryland, Oregon, Northwestern and Penn State all have four conference wins or fewer. The Gophers were able to take care of business against Rutgers, Oregon and Northwestern, but suffered losses to Penn State and Maryland. They've shown they can beat just about anyone in the conference, but also lose to anyone. They made Rutgers look like they didn't belong in the conference on Saturday.

Grayson Grove's improvement

Grove's role with the Gophers team had the most impact when Jaylen Crocker-Johnson was ruled out indefinitely with a foot injury. He had a career-best performance in Tuesday night's win over Oregon with 13 points and 8 rebounds. He continues to show drastic improvement from the start of the season, with 11 points and 8 rebounds against Rutgers. Minnesota's plethora of injuries has significantly lowered its ceiling as a team this season, but the experience gained by players like Grove could show serious results next year and beyond.

Cade Tyson's big night

Tyson lit up the scoreboards for the Gophers to begin this season. He scored 20 or more points in four of their first five games, and he was among the top scorers in the entire country. Since entering the bulk of Big Ten play, his production has dropped. He scored 20 points or fewer in eight of his last nine games before taking on Rutgers. He exploded for 27 points, which is his most against a Big Ten opponent this season.

Cade Tyson today against Rutgers

27 points
FGs: 10-18
3P: 7-9
10 rebounds

Heck of a performance.

pic.twitter.com/8NwDVslJB4
— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) February 21, 2026

Langston Reynolds is Minnesota's offensive key

Reynolds has been playing second fiddle to Isaac Asuma in the Gophers' backcourt recently, with just 8.6 points per game over the last three games before Saturday. He had his most impressive performance in quite a while with 19 points and 9 assists. Minnesota doesn't have many other options, but when Reynolds is consistently scoring the ball, they become a much tougher team to defend.

Setting a standard

Barring anything insane, the Gophers will be playing on Wednesday in the second round of the Big Ten tournament as a team seeded 9 to 14. With Crocker-Johnson likely lost for the season, their chances of making a deep run seem slim. Wins like today over Rutgers begin to set a standard for the program under Niko Medved. They looked as prepared to face the Scarlet Knights as they did Michigan State, and those are the things that will go a long way in clawing out of the bottom of the conference.