CHICAGO _ Amir Coffey was isolated at the top of the key for what was supposed to be the last shot of the first half Thursday, but the ball was stolen away and dunked by Penn State's Josh Reaves with seconds still left on the clock.
Coffey dropped his head and walked off the court frustrated to be down four points at halftime in the Gophers' opening game in the Big Ten tournament at the United Center.
The talented and versatile 6-foot-8 junior guard was arguably the best player in the Big Ten the last two weeks averaging 28 points in his final three regular season games. That boosted the Gophers' NCAA Tournament hopes to receiving an at-large bid even with an early exit in Chicago.
As much as his outstanding play took his team to another level, Coffey's struggles for most of the game Thursday made it a long night, but his 22 points and play in overtime led the Gophers to the 77-72 win against the Nittany Lions.
Coffey, who had just two points on 1-for-6 shooting in the first half, finished with 12 points in overtime for the seventh-seeded Gophers (20-12), who advanced to play No. 2 seed Purdue on Friday night.
To open overtime, Coffey hammered a dunk in transition off a steal for the early lead, also waking up something that his team desperately needed.
The Nittany Lions (14-18) showed why they entered the game with seven wins in the last 10 games by cutting it to 75-72 on a Myreon Jones' 3-pointer with four seconds left, but Coffey hit two more free throws to seal Minnesota's third win in the last four games.
McBrayer had 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Coffey finished 6-for-17 from the field, but he went 10-for-11 from the foul line in the game, including 6-for-7 in the extra period.
In the last five minutes of regulation, Minnesota scored eight straight points to make it interesting. Back-to-back buckets by Coffey were highlighted by a two-handed dunk on the break to cut it to 59-57 just under three minutes left in the second half.
Jordan Murphy, who finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds, powered in a layup with 1:10 remaining to tie it at 59 for an 8-0 run by the Gophers. Lamar Stevens and Dupree McBrayer traded jumpers to keep the score tied at 61.
The Gophers got the defensive stop they needed when Stevens tried to go 1-on-1 with 15 seconds left. That set up a final play after a timeout.
Coffey got the ball off after throwing the inbounds pass, but his 25-foot three-point attempt clanked to end regulation.
That errant last shot seemed to fire the former Hopkins standout up to make up for his poor start.
Gophers coach Richard Pitino stated his case going into the postseason as to why he felt his team didn't need another win to reach the program's second NCAA tourney in three seasons.
Pitino pointed out that falling to the Nittany Lions wouldn't be a bad loss, because they were considered a Quadrant 1 opponent.
Instead worrying about another loss on the resume, the Gophers picked up their fifth Quad 1 win of the season, which includes victories over Purdue, Wisconsin and Pac-12 champion Washington. They entered Thursday as a projected No. 10 seed by ESPN's Joe Lunardi and CBSSports' Jerry Palm.
The Nittany Lions, who surprisingly started 0-10 in Big Ten play, twice led by eight points in the second half, including after a basket and foul by John Harrar to make it 21-13. Daniel Oturu picked up his second foul on the play.
Midway through the first half, Coffey and All-Big Ten senior forward Murphy had just one basket between them.
Murphy, who started the game 6-for-6 from the foul line, finally got his first field goal with 7:18 left in the first half. McBrayer's layup capped a 13-4 run to give Minnesota a 25-26 lead, but it couldn't sustain the momentum.
In the second half, Stevens, who had 24 points, fought off several rallies by the Gophers.
Gabe Kalscheur was fouled behind the three-point line, but only went 1-for-3 from the foul line to cut an eight-point deficit to 51-49. Stevens and Mike Watkins scored six straight points, including a layup from Stevens to extend it to 59-51 with 4:58 to play.
In the end, the Gophers' narrow victory was reminiscent of the 65-64 win vs. Penn State on Jan. 19 in Minneapolis with both teams not willing to back down.
