Gopher Basketball
From the opening tip, Hagen battled down low and sacrificed his body like he has throughout his entire Gopher career. He set the tone of the game with his aggression on the boards as he finished the first half with 12 rebounds (including eight on the offensive end). This effort kept the Gophers in the first half as the team struggled for offensive continuity as Iowa’s zone defense gave them fits.
Hagen’s aggression was enough to keep the Gophers in see-saw first half battle as neither team went on a big run. Dan Coleman provided a bit of offense for the Gophers as he finished with seven first half points as the Gophers trailed the Hawkeyes 26-25 after the game’s first 20 minutes.
The Gophers came out strong in the second half as Hagen hit two field goals and Vincent Grier added a hanging jumper in the lane to give the Gophers a three-point lead, 31-28.
After a Steve Alford time-out, Iowa went on an 8-0 fueled by Mike Anderson and Adam Haluska, opening up a 36-31 Hawkeye lead.
But just as Iowa gained the momentum, it was Robinson’s turn to put his stamp on Senior Night. The 5-8 guard that no major D1 program wanted, took the game over by hitting a big three-pointer (he finished with four big second half three-pointers), threw an alley-oop pass to a high-flying Grier, hit a slashing Lawson on a fast-break and followed it up with another three-pointer. Robinson was directly involved in 10 straight points and turned a five-point deficit to a five-point Gopher lead. Grier connected on another three-pointer and the Gophers never looked back.
Minnesota did its best to make it interesting down the stretch. Lawson had a couple of huge offensive rebounds as the Gophers opened up a 54-41 lead, but let Iowa back in the game as Jeff Horner and Greg Brunner started to heat up. The Hawkeyes cut the Gopher lead to 59-53 and the Gophers started to miss front-ends of free throws.
But just as the Gopher crowd and team started to tighten up, along came J’son Stamper with his aggressive rebounding and calm free-throw shooting to seal the victory. Stamper hit four clutch free throws in the games final minute and added nine rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench.
Stamper’s free throw shooting and the Gophers tough rebounding (they finished with a season high 44 rebounds) finished off Iowa 65-57 in front of an appreciative and pumped up crowd.
Grier led the way for Minnesota with 17 points and six assists, Hagen added his 14 points and 17 rebounds (his third double-double of the season), Robinson added 14 points and four assists, and Stamper added eight points and nine huge rebounds.
The win was a major step for the Gophers as it continues its quest for an NCAA Tournament bid, which a few months ago seemed like a pipe dream. Minnesota improves to 18-9 overall and 8-6 in Big Ten play.
More than anything, this win culminated the home careers (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE no home or away NIT games”¦pretty please!!) of Hagen, Lawson and Robinson. The trio, which came to The U under different circumstances but all with a chip on their shoulder to prove they could play at this level, left the game with about 10 seconds remaining and received an emotional standing ovation.
The seniors leave the Gopher program in much better shape than when they arrived. No matter what happens over the next two weeks, they will leave a legacy of a trio that exhibited heart, perseverance, determination and a love and dedication to the Gopher program.
Notable: The game brought out the stars as it was a “œwho’s who” in the crowd. Some of the faces in the crowd included highly-touted Gopher recruits Isaiah Dahlman and Cory Johnson, former Gopher and Twin and MLB Hall of Famer Paul Molitor (he was honored at half-time for the prestigious University of Minnesota Outstanding Achievement Award), former Gopher greats Flip Saunders, Melvin Newborn (he was the honorary captain), Trent Tucker, Ben Johnson and Kevin Lynch as well as Gopher-to-be Brandon Smith just to name a few.