MINNEAPOLIS _ Teams with double-digit losses in mid-February like Richard Pitino's Gophers can't afford to drop too many more games to stay in contention for the NCAA tournament.
Sunday felt like it had heavy March Madness implications for one team in particular, the Gophers blew a chance to help their postseason chances with a disappointing 58-55 loss against No. 21 Iowa in front of a sellout crowd at Williams Arena.
Daniel Oturu led the Gophers (12-12, 6-8) with 15 points, but his errant free throw in the waning seconds was just one of several missed opportunities.
Minnesota led by six points with less than five minutes left in the game, but suddenly the pressure of being in desperation mode for a quality win seemed to get them rattled.
Turnovers. Missed rebounds. Missed defensive assignments.
Five straight possessions went by without a score, which included four turnovers.
The Hawkeyes (18-8, 9-6) took 57-55 lead with Bakari Evelyn's free throws at the 1:15 mark, which made it a 10-0 run. Luka Garza led Iowa with a game-high 24 points.
With a chance to tie the score, Pitino called a timeout on the ensuing possession. Marcus Carr had been the hero in past games, but his pass to Daniel Oturu sailed out of bounds with under a minute remaining. The fifth turnover in crunch time.
One last opportunity came for the Gophers, but Oturu missed the front end of the 1-and-1 with 3.8 seconds to play. They went scoreless in the final 5:25.
Entering Sunday's game, Pitino's team was not one of 11 teams projected to make the NCAA tournament, but the Gophers were just on the outside looking in, according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi.
Opportunities for marquee wins are running out for Minnesota with six regular season games remaining, including next week against Indiana at home.
The Gophers trailed 21-17 past the midway point in the first half Sunday afternoon when they broke out on a 14-0 run to get their biggest crowd of the season into the game.
Following Marcus Carr's floater in the lane, the officials called the Hawkeyes for a foul to put Oturu to the foul line for two shots. The play ended up swinging the momentum heavily in Minnesota's favor to end the first half with a 31-26 lead.
The Hawkeyes went to the Big Ten's scoring leader from the outset with Garza scoring his team's first 10 points of the game. After Oturu switched defensively to play against him, Garza was scoreless until the second half.
Iowa went with a bigger lineup with 6-foot-10 Ryan Kriener replacing CJ Fredrick, who missed Sunday with an ankle injury. Fredrick was the top three-point shooter in the Big Ten at 46.5% shooting.
Kriener and Garza pounded the Gophers inside with seven straight points in the second half to pull within 35-33 on Kriener's layup.
Pitino made another move in the frontcourt for defensive purposes by bringing in freshman Isaiah Ihnen's 7-4 wingspan off the bench to disrupt Iowa with his length.
Following Ihnen's third block of the game, the 6-9 German native scored on an alley-oop play. Oturu then nailed a jumper to make it 41-33.
Cordell Pemsl capped an 8-0 run for the Hawkeyes to cut Minnesota's lead to 41-40 with 10 { minutes remaining in the second half.
The headliners for Sunday's game were definitely Oturu and Garza, who are the top two scorers in the Big Ten. They both dealt with foul trouble trying to guard one another, including Garza picking up his fourth foul at 7:28 to play.
Gophers faithful went silent when Connor McCaffery's three-pointer tied the game 47-47. Minnesota answered with an 8-0 run behind consecutive threes from Gabe Kalscheur and Payton Willis for 55-47 advantage.
