CHICAGO _ With the pressure of making the NCAA Tournament out of the way, the Gophers put together arguably their best first half of the season offensively in Friday's Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.
Not many teams can outshoot Purdue, a top-five team in the country in offensive efficiency.
After shooting 63 percent in the first half, the seventh-seeded Gophers held off No. 2-seed Purdue with Jordan Murphy and Amir Coffey's 48 combined points in a 75-73 win Friday night at the United Center.
Minnesota (21-12) makes its second trip to the conference tournament semifinals in three years, which included the last NCAA Tournament team in 2017.
The Big Ten's leading scorer, Carsen Edwards, freed himself for a potential game-winning 3-pointer in the corner, but his shot clanked off the mark as time expired.
Edwards, who averaged 23.4 points per game, was held to just 11 points on 4 for 17 shooting from the field for the Boilermakers (23-9), who lost for the second time in three meetings to Minnesota this season.
Murphy, Coffey and Gabe Kalscheur combined for 31 points in the first half Friday to lead the Gophers to a 42-39 halftime lead.
Kalscheur had a team-best 11 points in the first half on 3 for 5 shooting from 3-point range. Minnesota's five first-half 3-pointers were more than it had in Thursday's 77-72 overtime win versus Penn State.
There were questions about how close the Gophers were to having their bubble burst entering postseason play after seven losses in 10 games. They squashed any doubt about securing an NCAA tourney at-large bid with back-to-back Quadrant 1 victories in consecutive days in Chicago. That improves their Quad 1 record to 5-9.
CBS Sports' Jerry Palm told the Star Tribune the Gophers could've been as high as a No. 8 seed with a second win Friday against Purdue, which came in No. 12 in the NCAA's NET rankings.
You could argue that being a No. 10 seed would be better off for Pitino's team not having to play the No. 1 seed in the second round, but that's now up to the selection committee to determine.
What the Gophers proved Friday was they belong in the Big Dance, especially after giving the co-Big Ten regular season champions all they could handle.
In the second half, Minnesota twice led by as much as 10 points, including 57-47 after a Daniel Oturu muscled in a basket at the 12-minute mark. Purdue responded with a 15-4 run to regain the lead after Edwards finished off a slashing drive to make it 62-61.
Pitino looked to his veterans to answer down the stretch. After Trevion Williams scored his second straight putback, Murphy powered through Purdue's 7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms for a basket plus the foul. The All-Big Ten senior forward's 3-point play gave his team a 72-71 advantage.
The Big Ten's leading rebounder continued to dominate on the glass by grabbing his own miss to get fouled with under two minutes to play. Murphy drilled both free throws for a three-point lead.
The Gophers had a chance to probably seal the game when Murphy found Kalscheur in the corner for a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left, but his basket was called off after the shot clock expired.
