It felt over with a little more than 8 minutes left. Then Minnesota flipped everything in the final stretch on November 9 in Cincinnati.
The Gophers stayed calm, got a huge night from Kyan Evans, and walked out with a 63-61 win that nobody in the building will forget.
The shot that ended it
Bobby Durkin delivered the moment of the night at the buzzer. After Cincinnati missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Isaac Asuma secured the rebound and quickly pushed the ball ahead.
Asuma dribbled a couple of steps and fired a pass across midcourt to Durkin. Durkin rose from deep and buried the 3-pointer as time expired, giving Minnesota the 63-61 win.
It was the kind of finish teams remember all season. One clean catch, one confident release, and Minnesota had its third win in 3 games.
Kyan Evans carried the offense
Evans was the biggest reason Minnesota stayed close long enough to steal it. He scored a career-high 26 points and added 10 rebounds for a huge double-double.
He also finished with 5 assists and shot 11 of 19 from the field. On a night when every possession mattered, Evans made 3 shots from long range and kept Cincinnati from pulling away.
Those numbers were not empty stats. Minnesota scored 63 points total, so Evans accounted for a massive share of the offense in Cincinnati on November 9.
The comeback started in the final minutes
Minnesota trailed 49-41 with 8:12 remaining, which was Cincinnati’s largest lead. At that point, the Bearcats looked in control on their home floor.
The Gophers did not panic. With 2:16 left, Jaylen Crocker-Johnson hit a hookshot, and then Evans and Asuma each followed with a layup during a 6-0 burst.
That run pulled Minnesota within 61-60 with 14 seconds left. In a game that was tied 30-30 at halftime, that late push completely changed the finish.
Cincinnati opened the door late
The Bearcats still had a chance to close it out at the foul line. Instead, Myles Colvin and MJ Collins each missed the front end of a 1-and-1 in the closing seconds.
Those misses gave Minnesota life when it needed one more possession. Asuma’s rebound off Collins’ miss became the setup for Durkin’s winner a moment later.
Cincinnati got 25 points from Tylen Riley, including 16 in the second half, and 10 points from Tyler Tejada. But the missed free throws ended up being the detail everyone remembered.
Minnesota won the small-battle areas
The Gophers did not dominate every category, but they made enough winning plays. Minnesota shot .429 from the field, while Cincinnati finished at .411.
Minnesota also held Cincinnati to .241 from 3-point range compared with its own .320 mark. The Gophers outrebounded the Bearcats 40-28, which mattered in a 2-point game.
There were flaws too, including 17 turnovers and a .636 free-throw percentage. Still, the rebounding edge and timely shot-making were enough to overcome them.
What the win means now
Minnesota improved to 3-0 with the victory, and that matters in November. Close road wins like this can shape a team’s confidence before the schedule gets tougher.
A comeback from 8 points down in the second half says something about poise. So does winning on the road after Cincinnati grabbed its first lead since 15:42 remained in the second half.
Next up, the Gophers return home to host Southern on Thursday, November 12. After a finish like the one in Cincinnati, they will bring real momentum into that game.
