The Minnesota Golden Gophers hosted the University of South Dakota Coyotes in the first meeting of the two teams in thirty years, and the game did not disapoint. After a wild two extra sessions, the Yotes pulled out the surprising upset over Richard Pitino's Gophers in The Barn.

South Dakota got on the board first when Shy McClelland made a layup to put the Coyotes up 2-0. Joey King answered a short time later for the Gophers to tie the game at two. The Coyotes than jumped out front thanks to a layup from Tre Burnette, followed by Burnette knocking down a three pointer to put the Coyotes up 7-2 over Minnesota.

The Gophers did come back, however, as by the tune of the first media timeout, they had trimmed the lead to just 9-5. From there, Minnesota controlled the game for a short time, as they ended up taking a 10-9 lead over the Coyotes.

The lead held there untill Kevin Dorsey made a jump shot to extend the Gophers lead to 12-9. Charles Buggs made a layup a short time later to make it a five point Gophers lead, at which point South Dakota was forced to take a timeout.

After the timeout, Minnesota picked up right where they left off, as Jordan Murphy made a slam dunk to maintain the Minnesota five point lead. Trey Norris than made a layup for the Coyotes, followed by Eric Robertson making a jumper to make it just a one point Minnesota lead.

The Gophers extended the lead back to three with 9:40 left in the first half when Nate Mason made a jump shot, but South Dakota quickly tied the game thanks to D.J. Davis making a layup, and drawing the foul. He made the free throw to tie the game at 18 with under nine minutes left in the half.

From there, the game was a toss up, as neither team was able to maintain a big lead for very long. When the first half ended, the Gophers were down by six points, as the Coyotes had jumped to a 35-29 lead.

The Gophers came out in the second half and quickly tied the game, which sent it into another pattern of neither team maintaining the lead for very long. The Gophers looked to be in trouble with 13:57 left in the second half when Dan Jech made a layup to extend the South Dakota lead to eight. 

Minnesota slowly climbed back into the game, as they went on a 10-0 run in just four minutes to tie the game back up at 50. The Coyotes had a chance to win the game in overtime, as they held a two point lead with just seconds left, but Murphy was able to beat the buzzer and make a jump shot to send the game into overtime.

The Golden Gophers controlled the first overtime period, as they got on the board first, and eventually opened up a six point lead with just 1:35 left in the period. However, just like the Gophers clawed their way back in the second half, the Coyotes fought back, and ended up tying the game with seven seconds left. The Gophers were unable to score on their final posession, which sent the game into a second overtime.

The second overtime was similar to regulation, as neither team could hold a lead for very long. The Coyotes finally pulled away in the final seconds, and ended up with an 85-81 upset over the Gophers.

Looking Ahead

The Gophers will now turn their attention to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, who will come to town on Tuesday night to play the Gophers. The high-flying Coyotes, meanwhile, will return to South Dakota to host the University of Missouri-Kansas City, which also will be played on Tuesday night.