— MINNEAPOLIS — Northeastern State coach Larry Gipson was quick to point out one overwhelming characteristic of the Minnesota Golden Gophers after the RiverHawks' 109-59 loss Tuesday night: the Gophers' size.
"That might be the biggest team in the United States," Gipson said referring to Minnesota's roster, which includes seven players that stand at least 6-foot-8 or taller. The Gophers also have four players that top out at either 6-10 or 6-11.
Ironically, it was Minnesota guard Blake Hoffarber who paced the Gophers, scoring a game-high 20 points and dishing out six assists. Ralph Sampson III, a 6-11 junior, chipped in 17 points, and Rodney Williams and Colton Iverson added 13 and 12, respectively.
Gipson, who knew his team would be challenged against Minnesota's height, was left in awe of the Gophers.
"We just were not big enough to defend them in the post area," he said. "But they are very good and potentially a Sweet 16 team."
Some glaring statistics that led to such a wide margin of victory were the shooting percentages.
Minnesota shot lights out, making 56 percent (39 of 69) of its shots from the field. The Gophers were also 42 percent (11 of 26) from the behind the three-point arc and 80 percent (20 of 25) from the free-throw line.
Hoffarber said he was feeling good during his 19 minutes out on the floor.
"Guys were hitting me in transition, throwing some good passes to me," said the senior guard, the Gophers' top returning scorer from last year. "Anytime your team is really looking for you like that and expecting you to shoot it, it definitely gives you confidence."
The RiverHawks, whose next game is Nov. 13 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, were a mere 27 percent (17 of 63) from the floor, shooting only 21 percent (6 of 28) from behind the three-point line.
"We have to do a better job of hitting open shots," Gipson said. "They gave us a lot of perimeter shots, and we absolutely did not have a good shooting night."
Minnesota scored the first 12 points of the game and 19 of the first 21. The Gophers made sure NSU wasn't around to spring a potential upset in the second half.
"I think if you eliminated the first seven or eight minutes of the game, I thought we were pretty competitive," Gipson said. "...I think from that point we started executing."
The contrast in starts could have been credited to the 10,405 fans inside Williams Arena, according to Gipson.
"We were a little bit starry eyed," he said. "We are not used to playing in front of this many people in this big of an arena."
Leading the way for the RiverHawks was Dominique Gaines, who scored 18 points despite going 4 of 17 from the field and 0 of 6 from long range. He was, however, 10 of 13 from the charity stripe.
Antoine Branch chipped in with 17 points for NSU. The senior guard came off the bench and made 50 percent (4 of 8) of his three-point attempts.
NSU's new faces inside, Justin Johnson and Jermaine Bransford, scored six and eight points, respectively, in their debuts.
"Our big guys (Johnson and Bransford) played hard," Gipson said of his two junior college transfers.
Minnesota coach Tubby Smith was clearly pleased with his team's 2010-2011 debut.
"I thought our guys were focused and ready," said Smith, whose team made the NCAA Tournament last season. "We did some good things in sharing the basketball and establishing the tempo early in the game. We made shots, we pushed it up the court, we got in transition and really defended well. Those are things you use to win basketball games."
NSU opens its regular season Nov. 13 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
