MINNEAPOLIS _ Wisconsin went nearly 22 minutes into Wednesday's Border Battle against Minnesota without being called for a foul.
When the officials finally whistled the Badgers for too much contact on a rebound, the Williams Arena crowd gave them a standing ovation.
There wasn't enough to cheer for Gophers faithful offensively with their team struggling to get any rhythm going against a physical, stingy and sometimes borderline dirty Wisconsin defense in a 56-51 on Wednesday night.
In a game Richard Pitino's team needed to help boost its NCAA Tournament chances, the Gophers (16-7, 6-6) played well enough defensively to hold their rival to 29 percent from the field in the first half.
In the second half, Jordan Murphy's two free throws made it a three-point game with 2:11 left to play, but the Gophers' late comeback attempt fell short.
D'Mitrik Trice made the biggest shot of the game on a 3-pointer to answer at 1:44 to give Wisconsin a comfortable six-point advantage.
Happ had 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead the 19th-ranked Badgers (17-6, 9-3), who extended a six-game winning streak.
Minnesota (35.1 percent shooting) suffered from a dreadful shooting night and didn't get enough scoring from the foul line, either. Entering Wednesday's game, the Gophers were ninth in the country with 17.7 free throws attempted per game, while Jordan Murphy led the Big Ten with 7.68 foul shots a game.
Murphy, who had a team-high 16 points on 6-for-16 shooting and 19 rebounds, was shoved to the floor on several occasions and even undercut on a rebound in the first half.
Things really got heated when Murphy was elbowed by Aleem Ford midway through the second half, but there was no flagrant 1 call after the play was reviewed.
Gophers fans were furious, but Murphy responded with a three-point play to cut a 10-point deficit to 37-34.
After Wisconsin responded, the Gophers got within 43-40 on another basket from Murphy with less than six minutes to play, but the frustration of missed shots started to set in.
Much like when Pitino's team blew a 13-point second-half lead Sunday in a 73-63 loss at Purdue, Minnesota couldn't string together enough scoring to get some momentum.
After Oturu's two free throws with 3:13 remaining cut Wisconsin's lead to 48-43, Pitino went with the Hack-a-Happ strategy.
Happ, who 47.4 percent from the foul line this season, shot 3-for-6 on free throws, but the Badgers were 10-for-15 in the second half at the charity stripe.
Minnesota's leading scorer Amir Coffey, who averaged 19.2 points in Big Ten play, had just eight points on 3-for-10 shooting Wednesday. Fellow starting guards Dupree McBrayer and Gabe Kalschuer also had just 11 points combined on 4-for-17 shooting.
That was a significant drop off from his 21-point performance in the 59-52 win against Wisconsin on Jan. 3, which was the U's first victory in Madison since 2009.
The Gophers weren't able to pull off their first season sweep of the Badgers since the 2008-09 season when they reached the first NCAA Tournament under Tubby Smith.
For Pitino to make his second trip to the NCAAs in six seasons, Minnesota will need to pull off a few more resume-building victories in the last eight games.
After failing in upset opportunities against Purdue and Wisconsin, the Gophers travel to play Saturday at Michigan State, which has three straight losses.
