Can the severely shorthanded and undersized Gophers pull another upset?

A big question ahead of next week's battle at No. 1 Purdue is whether two key injured players will be back.

Dec 3, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Isaac Asuma (1) celebrates his three point basket against the Indiana Hoosiers during the second half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Minnesota's shocking win over No. 22 Indiana on Wednesday night was one for the ages. Not because it was Niko Medved's first game coaching his alma mater against a Big Ten foe, or because it was a win over a ranked opponent, but because the Gophers did it shorthanded and severely undersized.

Without their most efficient rebounder, Robert Vaihola, who missed a fourth straight game with a knee injury, Minnesota's biggest guy on the floor most of the night was 6-foot-8 forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson.

When Crocker-Johnson got into foul trouble early, the Gophers leaned on redshirt freshman Grayson Grove, who, despite being listed at 6-foot-9, gives up a lot of size on the inside. It got dicey when Crocker-Johnson was whistled for his third foul 32 seconds into the second half, followed by Grove getting called for his fourth foul 12 seconds later.

That forced the Gophers to give redshirt freshman Nehemiah Turner, who had appeared in only three games all season, a run of nearly seven minutes while Crocker-Johnson and Grove watched from the bench. In those seven minutes, Turner was called for four fouls, but the Gophers didn't fall apart, only getting outscored 9-7 when Turner was on the floor.

A big reason they didn't get crushed when Crocker-Johnson and Grove were in foul trouble is that the guards and small forwards were rebounding like crazy.

Turner, despite being 6-foot-10, had only two rebounds in seven minutes. Grove played eight minutes and had only two rebounds. A big reason they didn't get crushed when Crocker-Johnson and Grove were in foul trouble is that the guards and small forwards were rebounding like crazy, with Minnesota out-rebounding the Hoosiers 40-25 in the game.

Credit goes to the starters, who worked their tails off to secure 31 rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass. Four of Cade Tyson's team-leading eight rebounds were on the offensive glass. That's a big-time effort for a 6-foot-7 small forward who leads the Big Ten in scoring at 21.8 points per game.

Point guard Isaac Asuma each had seven rebounds, while fellow guard Langston Reynolds grabbed five boards and small forward Bobby Durkin had four. Crocker-Johnson grabbed seven boards on the night, but that's expected. The other guys stepping up to crash the glass was exactly what the Gophers had to do to compete.

Now, crushing the Hoosiers on the glass is one thing, but to do it against No. 1 Purdue at Mackey Arena next Wednesday will be a different beast. The. Boilermakers are bigger than Indiana, rolling out a starting five led by power forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who leads the Big Ten with 11.0 rebounds per game, and 6-foot-11 center Oscar Cluff, who is fifth in the conference at 9.3 boards per game.

What Minnesota did against the Hoosiers might've been the product of playing a team that just doesn't rebound all that well. Indiana didn't have anyone with more than four rebounds, and they don't have anyone on the team averaging more than six boards per game this season.

It also helped that the Gophers held the Hoosiers to 40% shooting. Indiana had scored 98+ points in three of seven games before being held to 64 points at Williams Arena. If the Gophers can somehow slow down a Boilermakers team that leads the Big Ten in three-point shooting, has two productive bigs and a player of the year candidate in point guard Braden Smith, then maybe they can keep it close, and, who knows, maybe pull another shocking upset.

Vaihola's status for the Purdue game is unknown. We also don't know if B.J. Omot, who would give the Gophers some more size at 6-foot-8, will make his season debut. But we do know that starting point guard Chansey Willis Jr. (foot) is out for the season, so the same eight scholarship players who played against Indiana will need to be ready for another massive workload against the Boilermakers.

Despite the big upset over Indiana, nobody really expects Minnesota to beat Purdue. But the program got a confidence boost it desperately needed after three straight losses to San Francisco, Stanford, and Santa Clara, and a boost in the NET rankings as they climbed from No. 144 to No. 123 in Thursday's update.

It's not good enough, but maybe this team has a little more fight to it than anyone thought. And maybe, just maybe, they can find a way to keep their NCAA Tournament bubble hopes alive longer than anyone thought was possible.