MINNEAPOLIS _ The biggest crowd of the season came out Sunday, not only to see the Gophers face off against the Big Ten's top basketball team, but also watch the jersey of one of the program's all-time greats get lifted into the rafters.
Some of the legends of Gophers basketball history were on hand to honor Willie Burton, including teammates and coach Clem Haskins from the U's Sweet 16 and Elite Eight teams in 1989 and 1990.
The energy in the building from Burton's halftime ceremony gave the Gophers a lift on the court, but the No. 11 Michigan State was too tough to slow down in a 70-52 loss Sunday afternoon at Williams Arena.
The Gophers (11-9, 5-5) returned home hoping to build on their first true road win Thursday at Ohio State, but they ran into a conference title contender trying to make a statement.
Daniel Oturu and Gabe Kalscheur combined for 34 points, but the Gophers shot 28% from the field and were held scoreless for the last 2 minutes, 47 seconds of the game.
The Spartans (15-5, 7-2), who defeated Minnesota 74-58 on Jan. 9 in East Lansing, Mich., were led by Cassius Winston's 18 points and Xavier Tillman's 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Winston opened the second half with a four-point play after being fouled by Marcus Carr while draining three-pointer at the top of the key. That extended Michigan State's lead to 12 points in the blink of an eye.
Cutting that deficit in half, the Gophers rallied behind Kalscheur's back-to-back threes and a three-point play from Oturu made it 39-33 with 17:01 left in the second half.
Minnesota's surge would be enough to get the fans engaged again, but it failed to ignite enough offense to keep Richard Pitino's team within striking distance.
Winston, who had 27 points in his previous meeting against the Gophers, struggled only 11 points per game and a combined 17 turnovers in three games entering Sunday, which included road losses at Purdue and Indiana.
But it was Carr who couldn't seem to find the rhythm he had earlier in the week. The sophomore point guard led the Gophers with 21 points in their 62-59 victory to sweep the Buckeyes, including a game-winning three in the waning seconds.
On Sunday, Carr was swarmed by two or three defenders each time he drove hard to the rim off ball screens. What seemed to be his only wide open shot of the game came after a steal midway through the second half, but Carr didn't have enough lift to finish an uncontested layup.
Less than a minute later, Oturu picked up his fourth foul after charging at Michigan State's Foster Loyer beyond the arc. The frustration mounted when the Spartans turned a nine-point led to 61-45 after Tillman muscled in a basket at the 5:34 mark.
At that point, some Gophers faithful started to leave their seats toward the exit. This was a special day for Burton, but it showed how far away Pitino's team still is to compete with one of the Big Ten's elite.
The Spartans broke a tie with Illinois for first place in the Big Ten standings. The Gophers travel to play Wednesday against the Illini in Champaign.
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