Voshon Lenard had time to tie his shoes, or perhaps grab a drink of water, as he stood in the far corner of Williams Arena with the ball in his hands. Eventually, Minnesota's star guard shot the ball.

He sunk it with ease. Later, he sunk another one. And another one. And another one. Twelve straight points in all, part of a 21-1 Minnesota run.

At halftime, the score was Voshon Lenard 18, Penn State 17. The Gophers had 45 points in the first 20 minutes, and a highlight reel the length of Schindler's List. Penn State, meanwhile, was 5-for-21 from the floor for the half -- that's a field goal every four minutes.

Minnesota 93, Penn State 66 was the final tally. No one really cared.

In the end, all that was left was a sideshow: a duel between miniature bench-warmers, Penn State's 5-foot-10 Nate Althouse and Minnesota's 5-foot-8 Hosea Crittenden. And the Minnesota students' section, bearing 3,000 masks with Crittenden's face pictured on them, had the duel they'd been waiting for.

Crittenden's right-wing jumper with under a minute to play rubbed the salts of the Dead Sea into the Lions' wounds. It was just his second basket of the season.

That was the revolting peak of the Lions' repulsive performance. But there were plenty of marred moments to choose from. At one point in the second half, Penn State had cut the lead to 20, but Townsend Orr sunk a three-point shot. A few plays later, Lion point guard Dan Earl tripped over his own feet and lost the ball to Lenard, who laid the ball in and extended the Gopher lead to 27 with seven minutes, five seconds to play.

"The wheels fell off," Lion Coach Bruce Parkhill said in a radio interview after the game. "Minnesota played great and we played terrible."

It was that kind of night. Some other Lion lowlights: two backcourt violations, 18 turnovers, and an airball on a hook shot.

For the Gophers, Lenard finished with 30 points, while forward Randy Carter added 20 points and 10 rebounds. Point guard Arriel McDonald threw down the prettiest hoop of the night, a spinning, twisting layup in the lane.

The Lions' only bright spot was the second-half play of center John Amaechi, who finally seemed to wake from a slumber. Amaechi took the ball strong to the hoop a number of times, and finished with 21 points -- 13 in the second half.

Penn State did shoot 57 percent from the floor in the second half and made 20 of 25 free throws. Forward Rahsaan Carlton scored 14 points and Earl added 10, but the Lions' outside shooters were once again frigid.

"I think you can learn from everything," an upbeat Parkhill said. "When you're a team in the position we're in, you're going to have games like this."

Notes:

-- Power forward Matt Gaudio sat out for the second straight game due to a mysterious stomach ailment.

-- Senior guard Michael Jennings struggled once again, scoring only four points.

-- The Lions will return home to face Ohio State Saturday at 2 p.m.