Gophers pop struggling Spartans

MINNEAPOLIS — Liam Robbins had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks, leading a stifling effort by No. 21 Minnesota on defense to beat No. 17 Michigan State 81-56 on Monday night.

Marcus Carr scored 19 points and dished out five assists for the Gophers (9-1, 2-1 Big Ten), who never trailed and held the sputtering Spartans to 25.7% shooting ( 18 for 70) while outrebounding them 52-36.

Aaron Henry, who came off the bench for the first time this season, had 11 points and three assists, both paltry team highs as the Spartans (6-3, 0-3) hit their first 0-3 start in Big Ten play in 19 years.

Minnesota, which beat then-No. 4 Iowa on Friday, has faced and defeated consecutive opponents ranked in The Associated Press poll for the first time since beating Michigan State and Purdue in the Big Ten tournament in 2010. The Gophers have five more games in a row against teams currently in the AP Top 25.

Robbins, the 7-foot transfer from Drake, held his own against Iowa star Luka Garza with 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks on Friday and found more room to roam with a 3-inch edge on Michigan State’s Joey Hauser.

Robbins hit a three-pointer on the opening possession, mixed in a handful of successful soft hooks and showed off his passing skill with a slick high-low feed to Both Gach for a layup and a three-point play after a foul on Hauser that gave the Gophers a 46-21 lead.

Brandon Johnson, who made eight of nine three- pointers against the Hawkeyes to fuel the 102-95 overtime victory, had nine points and seven rebounds. His outside shot went cold along with most of his teammates, as the Gophers shot only 6 for 25 from threepoint range, but they did just about everything else well as guards leapt for long rebounds and forwards scrambled for loose balls.

The Spartans missed 27 of their first 31 shots from the floor. They went 5:40 without scoring at all in the first half, with Joshua Langford finally stopping the skid with a three-pointer from the corner. Carr made a step-back three-pointer at the halftime buzzer for a 36-16 lead, and the Gophers never let up to give coach Richard Pitino his first win at home in five tries against Michigan State. He’s 3-9 in eight seasons against the Spartans.

Hauser, who had a career-high 27 points in a loss at home to Wisconsin on Friday, scored six points on 1-for-8 shooting.

NO. 1 GONZAGA 88, NORTHERN ARIZONA 58

SPOKANE, Wash. — Joel Ayayi had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Drew Timme added 14 points and top-ranked Gonzaga beat Northern Arizona.

Andrew Nembhard finished with 10 points and seven assists for Gonzaga (80), which has the nation’s longest home winning streak at 42 games.

Cameron Shelton scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Northern Arizona (1-6), which was undone by 35% shooting. Jay Green had 12 points.

Freshman star Jalen Suggs did not play for Gonzaga due to a right leg injury, the team said.

The Bulldogs didn’t need him. Ayayi scored nine points as Gonzaga jumped to a 28-8 lead after eight minutes. The Bulldogs made 12 of their first 16 shots.

Gonzaga pushed the lead to 36-14 with just under seven minutes left in the first half, dominating the Lumberjacks in the paint 20-8.

Ayayi had 14 points and nine rebounds at halftime, as the Zags led 51-23.

Northern Arizona was hampered by 22.9% shooting, making just eight of 35 shots. Green had 10 points at the break for the Lumberjacks.

Gonzaga opened the second half with a 14-4 run to take a 65-27 lead with 14 minutes left. The Bulldogs sent in their bench players after that.

MARYLAND 70, NO. 9 WISCONSIN 64

MADISON, Wis. — Eric Ayala scored 17 points, while Aaron Wiggins added 15 points and nine rebounds as Maryland beat No. 9 Wisconsin 70-64.

Maryland (6-3, 1-2 Big Ten) snapped Wisconsin’s 15-game home winning streak and a stretch of 10 consecutive conference wins that dated back to last season.

D’Mitrik Trice hit a three-pointer with just less than 2 minutes left to pull the Badgers (8-2, 2-1) to 60-59.

Donta Scott hit back-to-back shots and Ayala knocked down two free throws to put the Terrapins up 66-59 with less than 25 seconds to go. Trice was fouled on a three-point attempt on Wisconsin’s next possession and hit all three free throws, but the Badgers got no closer.

Trice led Wisconsin with 25 points..

TOP 25 WOMEN NO. 9 TEXAS A&M 112 NORTHWESTERN ST. 26

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Destiny Pitts scored 14 points to lead No. 9 Texas A&M over Northwestern State.

Kayla Wells and Ciera Johnson each added 13 points as the Aggies (9-0) set a school record for scoring. The previous mark came in a 111-83 victory over Lamar on Nov. 15, 1995.

Alexis Morris added 12 points and Zaay Green, a transfer from Tennessee, had 10 in her Aggies debut.

A&M shot 58.3% from the field (42 of 72), including 12 of 23 (52.2%) on three-pointers.

Anessa Dussette scored eight points to lead Northwestern State (0-5), which made only 9 of 50 field goals and had 26 turnovers that A&M converted to 36 points.