John Laskowski, who did tcolor commentary on the television broadcast of the Gophers' 73-62 victory over Ohio State on Saturday, was one of the great players to play for Bobby Knight at Indiana, and he has some idea how much a home crowd can figure in helping the home team win.
"[Gophers basketball coach] Tubby Smith has got this program going," said Laskowski after the game. "That crowd gives him a great advantage. And you can't play better defense than Minnesota did in the second half."
The Buckeyes came to town with their All-America point guard Evan Turner, who had averaged 31.6 points per game before injuring his back, and was expected to spark his team to victory. However, the Gophers went to pick-up defense in the second half and, according to guard Al Nolen, it certainly frustrated Turner.
"No, we didn't pick him up much in the first half. Damian [Johnson] was guarding somebody else, usually he plays center field for us in the full-court [press]," Nolen said. "Coach moved who he was guarding, so he could come up and help me on the trap of Evan Turner."
Nolen was asked how he likes that type of defense.
"It wears us out, but we like that type of defense. We get a lot of turnovers out of that," said Nolen, whose four steals led the Gophers. "We did it against Iowa, and got a lot of turnovers. We did it against Purdue, and I think they had 17 turnovers. We've been pressing teams this year."
Why does it work so well?
"I don't think a lot of teams have seen it," Nolen said. "Our help defense is really, really good this year."
You talk about coaching and the way this Gopher team has played in the second half since Tubby took over, and it proves what a great coach he is. The Buckeyes led for a good part of the first half, but the second half it was all Gophers, thanks to the changes put in by Tubby.
