The first game in the Big Ten basketball tournament second round Thursday at Target Center felt like a home court advantage for the Gophers men's basketball team.

A few sections filled with fans in maroon and gold cheered during warmups as their mascot, Goldy Gopher, pumped them up with the U band playing in the background.

Playing for the first time in their backyard in the conference tourney, Ben Johnson's Gophers took a halftime lead Thursday afternoon against Michigan State, but they were overmatched in the second half in a 77-67 loss.

The No. 9 seeded Gophers (18-14) had their highest conference finish since 2018-19, but face a potential end to their season after losing five of the last six games. A bid to the NIT is no guarantee.

The Spartans (19-13) outscored their opponent 44-30 in the paint and shot 62% from the field in the second half to advance to play No. 1 seed Purdue on Friday in the quarterfinals.

Minnesota's players seemed to play with a sense of urgency early after jumping out to a 7-0 lead behind Dawson Garcia, who scored 10 of his 19 points in the first half.

BOXSCORE: Michigan State 77, Gophers 67

There were eight lead changes and four ties before the U pulled ahead 34-32 at halftime. Parker Fox scored nine points off the bench in the first half for the Gophers, who shot 50% from the field and scored 10 points off turnovers.

Eighth-seeded Michigan State had a similar 1-4 slide entering the Big Ten tournament, but it needed a win to help stay in NCAA tournament contention.

The Spartans split the regular season series with Minnesota, but they lost 59-55 in the last meeting Feb. 6 at Williams Arena. That was the last time the Gophers held an opponent under 70 points in a game.

Defensive issues plagued the Gophers in their three losses to end Big Ten play, including 90-66 last weekend at Northwestern. That carried over to Thursday's game against the Spartans.

Elijah Hawkins scored on a three-point play after Michigan State was called for basket interference to make it 49-44 early in the first half, but the Gophers would experience a scoring drought and a bit of bad luck.

Hawkins threw an alley-oop to Payne that appeared to be going through the basket before the ball popped out midway through the second half.

The Spartans took advantage with former Cretin-Derham Hall star Tre Holloman nailing a three-pointer during a 15-2 run that was capped by Malik Hall's layup for a 59-51 lead.

Michigan State's physicality on defense made it difficult for the Gophers to finish at the rim. Several times players were either stripped or forced into a tough shot with contact.

Garcia finally was determined to score any way possible, so he threw in a couple off-balanced layups to pull the Gophers within 65-59 with 4:12 to play.

That wasn't enough to match Tyson Walker, who scored nine straight points to extend Michigan State's advantage to 71-61.

The Gophers entered Thursday with a 3-1 record in the Big Ten tournament vs. Michigan State, including wins in 2010 and 2017. They went to the NCAA tournament after beating the Spartans in the past two meetings, but the longshot to reach the NCAAs this season ended with Thursday's loss.