The Gophers men’s basketball team was one-and-done in the Big Ten tournament on Thursday, with a 77-67 loss to Michigan State at Target Center.

And Minnesota’s season might be done.

The Gophers (18-14) long-shot chance of making the NCAA tournament, which needed a conference tourney championship, never got off the ground and the U’s NIT berth was one the bubble before Thursday’s tipoff.

Two of the three projections reviewed by the Pioneer Press had the Gophers on the outside looking in. Their fate will be determined with Sunday’s selections.

The ninth-seeded Gophers led the eighth-seeded Spartans 34-32 at the half, but Minnesota’s turnovers contributed to a second-half slide.  Michigan State will play top-seed Purdue (28-3, 17-3) at 11 a.m. Friday.

The Spartans (19-13) were a 6.5-point favorite against Minnesota and were led A.J. Hoggard’s 17 points.

Minnesota’s defense was the biggest culprit in losing six of their final nine regular season games and resurfaced in Thursday’s second half. They gave up 45 points in the final 20 minutes.

The last time the Gophers held an opponent under 70 points was the 59-56 win over Michigan State at Williams Arena on Feb. 6. Michigan State beat Minnesota 76-66 in East Lansing, Mich., on Jan. 18, so Thursday’s game serves as a rubber match.

Cam Christie starred in the U’s home win over the Spartans. The younger brother of former Michigan State guard Max Christie had 19 points at the Barn;Christie had 11 on Thursday.

Spartans guard Tyson Walker took over late in the the January matchup and finished with 21 points. He had 20 back at The Barn. He added 15 on Thursday.

Gophers big men Parker Fox and Pharrel Payne got into foul trouble early in the second half. Fox picked up his fourth with 14 minutes left in the first half, while Payne was already on the bench with three.

Payne came back within minutes, but in one of the oddest plays, he dunked an alley-oop. It went into the cylinder, but his arms stopped it from going down the net and it popped out.

Spartans guard Tre Holloman, a Cretin-Derham Hall graduate, hit a 3-pointer for a 55-51 lead with nine minutes remaining. The Spirants kept swarming after that swing.

Despite the 11 a.m. tipoff, the Gophers started strong, which was key after vacant vibes in the Northwestern and Indiana losses to finis the regular season. The U took a 7-0 lead and later had a 11-0 run to take a 21-14 lead. But Michigan State responded to both mini runs with spurts of their own.

Coach Ben Johnson clapped as his team exited the court at halftime, pleased with a 34-32 lead at the break.

Dawson Garcia leads all scorers with 10 in the opening 20 minutes and finished with 19 points.

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