Gophers' Red-Hot Three-Point Shooting Fuels Impressive Win Over UCLA

Minnesota was able to out-duel the Bruins in one of its highest scoring games of the season.

Dec 3, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Niko Medved reacts during the second half against the Indiana Hoosiers at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The shorthanded Gophers are showing no signs of wearing down anytime soon. They had another hard-fought effort Saturday afternoon at the Barn with just a six-man rotation. This time, they came out with a 78-73 win over UCLA.

Both UCLA and Minnesota got off to red-hot shooting starts. The Bruins' leading scorer, Tyler Bilodeau, had 16 points in the first half. It looked like the Gophers had zero answer, but Bobby Durkin hit five first-half threes. Minnesota carried a 41-40 deficit into the locker room after one of its highest scoring first halves of the season.

Neither team showed any signs of slowing down offensively in the second half. The point total before the game was over/under 136.5 points, and they surpassed that number with 3:32 remaining in the second half.

6️⃣ triples for Bobby Durkin 💥 @GopherMBB

📺: FS1 pic.twitter.com/9Fa36GtDJy

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 28, 2026

Durkin finished with a season-high 23 points on seven made threes, but it was Minnesota's other starters who began to heat up. Cade Tyson, Langston Reynolds and Isaac Asuma were all in double figures. Tyson and Reynolds were both over 20. The Gophers offense continued to show why they're among the nation's best in assist percentage with 24 assists on 29 made field goals.

They played unselfish basketball for 40 minutes. That was evident with Grayson Grove's performance. The redshirt freshman was scoreless, but he had six rebounds, seven assists and three steals. He did all the dirty work for the Gophers, and it paid off on the scoreboard.

Every time it looked like the Gophers would extend their lead in the second half, UCLA seemingly hit a huge basket to stop the run. Minnesota came up with a stop when it needed it most, and nailed some free throws to ice the game 78-73.

The Gophers are now 14-15 overall and 7-11 in the Big Ten. Their final away game will be next Wednesday at Assembly Hall against Indiana. Their regular-season finale will be next Saturday against Northwestern at 8 p.m. CT at home.