Lawrence Westbrook's memories of Gophers' 2009 victory at Wisconsin remain fresh

[BleedGopher]

per Marcus:

It has been almost a decade since Lawrence Westbrook played basketball for the Gophers, but his name always comes up when the Border Battle takes place at the Kohl Center.

Westbrook’s 29 points led the Gophers to a 78-74 overtime victory at Wisconsin on Jan. 15, 2009. Before Thursday, that was the Gophers’ only victory in Madison since the Kohl Center opened in 1998.

“I’m glad I was a part of history,” Westbrook said Thursday. “I remember everything pretty much from that game. I don’t know how many times Minnesota won there. Nobody wins there. It’s a tough place to play. We kept battling and battling and came together to make it happen. It was a big game for us.”

The Gophers trailed by 11 at halftime, but they scored 40 points in the second half, including a three-pointer from Damian Johnson with 19 seconds left and Westbrook’s tying three with two seconds left to send the game into regulation.

“We were happy to go to overtime,” said Westbrook, who scored nine points in OT. “I knew when we went into overtime I told the guys we have to win this game, because everything was happening right for us in such a short amount of time.”

The Gophers also got big contributions off the bench from Paul Carter (10 points and 11 rebounds) and Racine, Wis., native Devron Bostick (11 points, including five points in overtime) to end a six-game losing streak in the series and win their first victory in Madison since the Badgers played in the Field House in 1994.

Westbrook, who led the team in scoring in 2008-09, not only beat Wisconsin for the first time in his career that season, but the Gophers also helped him finish his senior year by reaching the NCAA tournament. The 6-foot guard spent time playing professionally in Israel, Germany and Romania. He also had a few stints in the NBA G League. He and Johnson were briefly in training camp together with the Bakersfield Jam several years ago. Westbrook now works in real estate with his brother, Tahj, back where they grew up in Arizona.

“I don’t watch college basketball too much, but I check in on [the Gophers] from time to time,” he said. “I hope they can make it a rivalry with Wisconsin again.”

http://www.startribune.com/lawrence...-victory-at-wisconsin-remain-fresh/503886172/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Madman]

Lawrence is one of my all time favorite Gophers. I loved his tenacity. Nobody played with more heart... Especially in this particular game in Madison. If I remember correctly... he was dribbling out the final seconds of overtime with the game in hand. Instead of just watching the final seconds tick off the clock, he decides to make one final F-YOU drive to the bucket for a rare Larry Westbrook dunk as the last second ticked off the clock. It was soooo gangster....and delicious. Lawrence.... I wish you well. Thank you for that moment.

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[Madman]

Prior to Westbrook's outburst in Madison, Vincent Grier put together a game for the ages and single handedly dismantled the Badgers. Bo Ryan had no answer for Grier that day. The guy couldn't miss!

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[Nomellini]

That was Westbrook's signature game, all right. In that second half rally he made two improbable fast break lay-ups, going one against two. They were the kind where you say "No!!!!!! Yes!!!!". Carter had a huge late block that led to another lay-up. I can still see Ryan exploding over not getting a goal tending call. I thought this game would be a springboard to a win at Northwestern in the next game. Nope.

 

[EG#9]

That game with Carter and Johnson was the time I truly thought the Gophers were about to pass the Badgers. They simply had no answer for the swarming , athletic, sometimes trapping defense we could play on their wings with those guys on the floor. Both Damian and Paul were big enough to hold up on Wisconsin's 4 yet were still more athletic and/or too long for their 2's and 3's. I thought we had the perfect style under Tubby to routinely beat the Badgers with the style of defense we played that game with players like Damian and Paul on the court. Unfortunately Paul would transfer and Rodney Williams never really locked in to same level on defense. The other issue was we never landed a PG with the defensive capabilities of Al Nolen. It's kind of crazy that 3 of Monson's recruits ended up being so key for Tubby in Damian/Al/Blake. I still think the key to beating Wisconsin consistently is versatile athletes like these guys that can kind of overwhelm some of the fundamentally sound/skilled, but athletically lacking guys that Wisconsin typically plays.

 

[GopherRock]

I was there that night. I remember the weather being colder than blazes on the trip down. 35 below zero never felt as good as it did coming out of the KC that night.