Oregon suffered its first loss away from home this season at Minnesota — the lowest ranked Big Ten team in NET.

The Oregon Ducks lost their first road contest of the season in a 77-69 loss at the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Ducks' leading scoring, center Nate Bittle, was held scoreless in the defeat.

Oregon men's basketball turned an 18-point deficit into an eventual one-shot lead Saturday afternoon before losing steam against Minnesota

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The Ducks came back, but the Barn’s best crowd of the season was treated to a thrilling 77-69 win. Coupled with an upset of No. 20 Michigan on Jan. 16, the U has two straight Top 25 wins, and with a victory at Iowa — its first since 2015 — they have won three in a row.

The Gophers (11-9, 3-6 Big Ten) were playing in front of their biggest home crowd of the season, and they fed off their energy as soon as the game tipped off. Minnesota started 10-for-14 shooting from the field and quickly jumped out to a 27-11 lead before giving Oregon (16-4, 5-4) a chance to even settle into the game.

Oregon dropped in the polls after splitting games with Washington and Minnesota.

The Ducks found themselves playing catch-up for most of the game and they could never erase that 18-point deficit in loss to Minnesota.

Minnesota and Michigan State meet on Tuesday night! Our College Basketball odds series has our Minnesota-Michigan State prediction, odds, and pick.

Oregon and Minnesota meet! Our College Basketball odds series has our Oregon-Minnesota prediction, odds, and pick.

The Badgers, alone in fourth place, sit behind only Michigan (14-5, 6-2 Big Ten), Purdue (16-5, 8-2 Big Ten) and Michigan State (17-2, 8-0 Big Ten) in the Big Ten standings. They have road games remaining against those top two teams.