Gophers Lose, Johnson Ousted

It’s one and done for the Gopher men in the Big Ten Tournament as they fell 72-64 to Northwestern on Wednesday afternoon in the opening round. Nick Martinelli scored 28 points for the Wildcats as 13th seeded Northwestern took out the No. 12 seeded Gophers. Dawson Garcia led Minnesota with 22 points and Frank Mitchell added 11 including five straight points to pull the Gophers to within seven points at 67-60 with :45 seconds remaining. Early this morning, University of Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle announced that he was making a change in leadership at the top of the Golden Gopher basketball program. Johnson was relieved of his duties as Head Coach. A national search will begin immediately.