INDIANAPOLIS — It was the same old story being told for the last time, at least until next season.

As Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn has said all year, there is no mystery to the Nittany Lions' woes. Sure, some of it has to do with inexperience, but according to Dunn, it comes down to the fact that the opponents have been making the big shots the Lions haven't been.

The Lions' season perished Thursday at the hands of Minnesota 84-60 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse because of that same reason.

The Golden Gophers shot 55.7 percent from the field for the game, 62.5 percent in the second half to run away with the game. On the other end, they held the Nittany Lions (7-21, 3-14 Big Ten) to 37.1 percent, including a putrid 25.8 percent in the first half.

"I thought we gave a great effort and played hard," Dunn said. "But we did not have many answers for Minnesota. Minnesota shot the ball extremely well from both the perimeter and the outside."

The Gophers got great play from their stellar forwards, scoring 42 points in the paint compared to 24 by the Nittany Lions. Senior Dusty Rychart led all scorers with 23 points, shooting 11-for-12 from the field, while freshman Rick Rickert scored 21, shooting 9-for-12. Center Jerry Holman also chipped in 10 points, making all five of his field goal attempts.

"I thought we played real hard," Minnesota coach Dan Monson said. "I thought our guys did a great job of staying with it, getting the ball back in and breaking them down in the second half, and getting the ball to our posts."

Minnesota, (17-12, 9-7 Big Ten) lost to Illinois 92-76 on Friday to put themselves on the bubble for an NCAA tournament bid.

They were also able to keep the Lions from focusing too much on the inside by hitting huge outside shots in the first half. Guard Kevin Burleson spearheaded the Gophers outside barrage, making all three of his three-pointers and finishing with 16 points.

"They hit a lot of outside shots," junior point guard Brandon Watkins said. "And they hit some easy inside shots. It was frustrating. We knew it was coming, I don't know why we couldn't stop it."

The Lions' year-long offensive struggles continued, combining their shooting woes with 17 turnovers, and losing the rebound battle 41-34.

The Lions were down 15-11 with 9:27 left in the first period when the Gophers went on a 16-6 run to go up 31-17. Minnesota's advantage would never again dip below double digits. They held a 38-23 lead at halftime and continually built on that in the second half. The Lions shot a solid 15-for-31 in the second half, but the Gophers never let them make a run, building a lead that peaked at 27 points. The Lions once again got little production outside of the usual suspects. Sophomore guard Sharif Chambliss led the team with 16 points, hitting four of his 13 three-point attempts to finish with more than ten points for the 26th straight game. Junior point guard Brandon Watkins followed with 12 points and four assists, and senior forward Tyler Smith chipped in 10 points along with eight rebounds.

"We were broke. I'm mad at myself, I'm going to go shoot tonight," Chambliss said. "I feel if we could have (changed the game) if we would've hit some shots early."