One hallmark of Niko Medved’s offense is backdoor cuts and the Gophers were dialing them up with big success midway through the second half at Missouri on Wednesday.

Then Minnesota fell through a trap door.

After Cade Tyson was fouled on another back cut to the basket and made one free throw to cut the Tigers lead to 49-47, Missouri went on a 21-1 run — with an 8-point surge on one possession — to run away with a 83-60 win at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.

On that back-breaking possession, Minnesota had an off-ball foul as Luke Northweather made 3-pointer from the corner. Mark Mitchell then made a 3-footer while getting fouled. Medved called timeout before the free throw, but after Mitchell missed it, the ball went off Tyson and out of bounds. Then Jacob Crews cashed in a trey.

“A nail in the coffin,” Medved told reporters postgame.

Minnesota (2-1) was up nine in the first half, but struggled once Missouri (4-0) went to a two-three zone. The U struggled to break it down or shoot over it before the break.

“The guys did come out ready to play,” Medved said on KFAN post game. “We were controlling the tempo the way we wanted to. We were really executing well. I thought when they went to a zone, it really kind of stymied us a little bit and gave them momentum.”

Minnesota cruised to two nonconference wins over lightweights in Gardner-Webb and Alcorn State, but the Tigers, an NCAA tournament team a year ago, were an entirely different level.

Minnesota was dominate on glass early and finished with a 34-25 rebounding advantage, but shot only 5 of 23 from 3-point range, while the Tigers were 11 for 22 from deep.

Mitchell, a preseason all-SEC forward, had averaged 20.7 points per game in the opening three games and scored 18 to lead all scorers Wednesday.

“Mitchell is a load, getting to the rim, and their shooters made threes,” Medved said. “They really made tough shots there, too. Our defense wasn’t good enough.”

Tyson, who had only six points in the first half, got going with that series of cuts to the basket. He had three finishes in the restricted area, including an emphatic, wrap-around dunk. He finished with team-high 17 points.

During that massive run, Missouri also capitalized on a handful of Gophers turnovers to put the game out of reach.

Gophers led Missouri 21-12 with eight minutes left in the first half, but trailed 32-30 at the half. Minnesota out-rebounded Tigers 24-11, including 11-0 on offensive glass, but the U shot 3 for 15 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes.

Minnesota will return to Williams Arena to play Green Bay on Saturday night.

“Maybe the biggest positive is it’s a great learning opportunity,” Medved said on the radio. “It’s early in the season. You are on the road, SEC school. I think they are a team that is going to play in the NCAA tournament and I felt like we were able to do some things well. But we got to rebound quickly. We got to come back Saturday ready to play. You can’t hang your heads.”

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