Depleted Team, Coaching Staff Lead to 83-66 Gopher Loss

At the start of the season, the Minnesota Gophers were excited about a nice combination of depth, experience and young guys. Two weeks into the season and on its biggest game of the year to date, the Gophers found themselves in the second half without their head coach, two best players, top rated freshman and its most athletic guard. With a makeshift lineup and a new sideline coach, the Gophers ran out of gas Wednesday night as the 20th ranked Maryland Terrapins beat Minnesota 83-66 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

After starting the game with two consecutive turnovers, the Gophers put on a first half defensive and rebounding performance that stymied Maryland and took the crowd out of the game. Maryland’s Chris McCray hit a jumper at the 16:26 mark in the first half tying the game at 6-6, before the Gophers exploded on a 17-2 run to open up a commanding 23-8 lead.

The big Gopher run was fueled by aggressive rebounding on both ends of the floor, pressure defense, an impressive offensive display by Dan Coleman and a barrage of three-pointers by Coleman, J’Son Stamper and Adam Boone. Boone’s three-pointer gave the Gophers the 15-point lead.

But just as the Gophers appeared to overcome much adversity, it suffered yet another setback as Maurice Hargrow left the game with an ankle injury in the first half and never returned. To top it off, Coleman picked up his third foul with five minutes remaining in the first half, further complicating issues for Minnesota.

The Terrapins took advantage of the depleted roster and pressured the Gophers into 11 turnovers in the games first 15 minutes and cut the Minnesota lead to 42-36 at halftime.

Maryland came out on fire and tied the game at 43-43 on a DJ Strawberry jumper just two minutes into the second half. Strawberry followed that up with a lay-up and a foul for a three-point play and another Maryland steal and hoop gave Maryland a five point lead, 48-43. After that, the wheels fell off for the Gophers.

Dan Monson was furious by a few no-calls and received a technical foul and threw his sport coat in the direction of the referees resulting in his ejection with 17:35 remaining in the game. Maryland converted on the free throws and never looked back and at one point opened up a 69-50 lead midway through the second half.

The Gophers played with a depleted lineup and a depleted coaching staff tonight but their effort never wavered. Minnesota dominated the boards all night, out-rebounding Maryland 43-31, including 20 offensive rebounds (six offensive from Stamper and four from Jamal Abu Shamala).

More than anything, the Gophers ran out of steam tonight. In addition, Minnesota was careless at times with the ball and converted 22 turnovers ““ most of which can be attributed to Maryland’s three-quarter trap and pressure defense.

One bright spot for Minnesota was the play of Coleman. The sophomore forward has been dealing with some off the court issues and was sluggish early on this season, but he looked great tonight as he was aggressive on both ends of the floor as he led the team with 16 points. Boone and Stamper each added 13 points (Stamper had 12 rebounds) and Spencer Tollackson had his second consecutive double digit scoring game as he added 11. Abu Shamala continued to impress with his nine rebounds.

The loss is Minnesota’s second in a row and fall to 2-2. But there is no rest for the walking-wounded as it hosts Coastal Carolina on Saturday and then travels to Tempe, Arizona to play at Arizona State on Monday. The severity of Hargrow’s injury is not known, but one thing is certain ““ the Gophers are sick and tired of having so much talent in street clothes.