The University of Minnesota men's basketball lost 99-89 to Texas Tech at Williams Arena today. The Golden Gophers went on a 14-4 run in the final three minutes of regulation to force overtime. However, Texas Tech scored 25 points in overtime to give them the victory.

Texas Tech took a 70-60 lead with 3:03 remaining in regulation. A Rick Rickert layup 10 seconds later started a furious Minnesota comeback in the game's waning moments. Steve Esselink hit a layup and was fouled with 39 seconds left. Esselink missed the freethrow, but Maurice Hargrow grabbed the rebound to give Minnesota life. A three-pointer by Rick Rickert with under 30 seconds remaining tied the game at 74 and sent it into overtime.

Minnesota could not keep the momentum going in overtime as the Red Raiders scored the first eight points and never looked back.

The first half went back-and-forth with the Golden Gophers evetually taking a 28-27 lead with 3:09 left. Texas Tech went on a 10-2 run to end the half. Robert Tomaszek scored eight of the last 10 for Texas Tech in the half to give it a 37-30 lead at the break.

Hargrow scored a career-high 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting to lead the Gophers. Rickert added 22 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Michael Bauer added 12 points.

Texas Tech was red-hot from the floor all night shooting 56 percent. Tomaszek lead the Red Raiders with 28 points and 16 rebounds, nine of which were on the offensive glass. Andre Emmett added 24 points.

Post-Game Notes

Minnesota is 36-11 in non-conference games under Dan Monson. The Golden Gophers are 30-4 in non-conference games at Williams Arena under Monson. This is just the Gophers' second regular season non-conference loss (UNC Wilmington, 12/4/01)...Texas Tech leads the all-time series 2-1. Minnesota is 1-1 all-time against the Red Raiders at Williams Arena...Minnesota is 6-16 against ranked opponents overall and 6-6 at Williams Arena under Dan Monson...Minnesota is 33-48 all-time in overtime (not including vacated games). Minnesota is 3-2 in overtime under Monson...Today's attendance of 14,156 is a season-high and the most since drawing 14,612 against Illinois on 3/3/02...Texas Tech snapped Minnesota's six-game home winning streak... Maurice Hargrow scored in double figures for the eighth time this season and the ninth time in his career...Hargrow scored a career-high 24 points. He also established career-bests in field goals made (9) and field goal attempts (15)... Rick Rickert scored in double figures for the fifth time this season and the 27th time in his career. He attempted a career-high 20 field goals...Rickert had a career-high 11 rebounds. He also notched his third career double-double...Rickert topped the 20-point mark for the ninth time in his career. Minnesota is 8-1 in those games... Michael Bauer scored in double figures for the seventh time this season and the 39th time in his career... Jerry Holman played a career-high 39 minutes. Rickert tied a career-high, playing 39 minutes...Texas Tech shot an opponent season-best 56.7 percent from the floor...Minnesota went on a 14-4 run over the last three minutes of regulation to force overtime...Robert Tomaszek's 16 rebounds are the most by a Minnesota opponent since Reggie Evans grabbed 16 for Iowa on 2/9/02...Tomaszek's 28 points are the most by a Minnesota opposing player since Skroki netted 28 for Richmond on 3/18/02 in the NIT second round...Texas Tech's 99 points are the most by an opponent since TCU on 11/25/00. Minnesota won that game 107-99.

Dan Monson - Head Coach Minnesota
"I said from the beginning that this would be a tough game. Texas Tech physically and mentally dominated us and that is very disappointing. We did a good job early on, Texas Tech just played tougher and better than we did."

"This is the time of year when a team needs to improve, but I felt that we broke down defensively. We gave up too many rebounds off of free throws and had a lot of turnovers just trying to fee the post. We did not have any bounce and it seemed as if we were a full step late on the defensive end. Giving up 25 points in five minutes (OT) is unacceptable."

"We had a tough non-conference schedule, but we have eight days to get ready for the Big Ten."

Minnesota Guard Kevin Burleson
"For the second straight game we didn't play well, but still were able to put ourselves in position to win the game. We had the fight in us to come back but we seemed to lose that fight once overtime started."

"Right now, we need to find a way to play better defensively. Today, we played well at times, but we had too many defensive lapses that allowed them to get easy baskets in quick spurts. You can't expect to beat a Top 25 by allowing that."

"As a team we need to look at ourselves and toughen up. If we are to meet our goal of winning a Big Ten title, we need to start doing the little things that help you win ball games. This team isn't doing the little things and we need to start to work on that."

Minnesota Forward Michael Bauer
"We played well for the second straight game against a Top 25 team. We just couldn't finish this one off. We're at home, had all the momentum, but were unable to sustain that in overtime. We allowed them too many easy baskets. And, you are not going to win by allowing that."

"We need to come together as a team and start to bring to the floor during games what we bring to the floor during practice. Everyone on this team knows we have the talent to succeed. We have yet to put it all together. Once we do that, I don't believe there is a single team in the country that can play with us."

Bob Knight - Head Coach for Texas Tech
"A huge point for us out of this game is the way we played without have Andre Emmett in there the for a lot of the first half. Our offensive play revolves around Emmett, and I think we actually improved today when he wasn't in there."

"We're within 2:15 of playing 40 pretty good minutes. The team still has to get to the point where we play 40 good minutes. One of the toughest things about basketball is to lose a lead, go to overtime and win the game. Really give credit to the kids. They came out with a sense of not letting this thing slip away. We worked hard, got the eight point lead. The guys came back to really play well. I told them at the end that we'll get to overtime and we'll play better."

"This is a really good win for us to come up here. I think [Minnesota] is a really good team and they are going to be a really good team all year."