Gopher Basketball
This game was never close, and it often wasn’t pretty. SDSU had 24 turnovers, and the Gophers committed 16 of their own. Minnesota held a commanding 44-26 lead at halftime, but they “œwon” the second half just 36-35. The Gophers were pretty strong in the first half offensively and defensively, but they dropped off in both areas a bit after the break. SDSU got a lot of open looks by swinging the ball around the perimeter (the Gophers always seemed to forget about one man), and they also took advantage of a few defensive lapses inside. Offensively, Minnesota penetrated and dished well but had a few struggles against the SDSU zone in the second half.
On a bright note, the Gophers went a perfect 9 for 9 from the free throw line. On a dimmer note, Minnesota did not have a good rebounding game ““ ending with just a 30-29 edge. Jonathan Williams did a very nice job with 9 boards in 21 minutes (along with 8 points and 2 blocks), but the rest of the team wasn’t as aggressive as they should have been. Of course having Stamper on the bench was a big part of that.
Spencer shot an excellent 10 for 14 from the field and took good advantage of his size against the smaller jackrabbits. He had a couple of nice post moves, but the majority of his points came as a result of good penetration and passing by the Gopher guards. That was nice to see. Moe had a quiet first half but heated up from beyond the arc in the second and ended up shooting 7 for 15 from the field. Adam was very solid, Rico Tucker had a decent game off the bench (9 points, 4 assists, 3 steals), andJamal Abu-Shamala ““ while he finally missed a shot – had another solid game with 7 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, a block, and a steal.
Considering two of their seniors were out, Minnesota’s play in the first half was pretty impressive. The second half was a bit lacking though. Oral Roberts will present a much tougher challenge in next Saturday’s nonconference finale, so hopefully we’ll see a complete 40-minute performance from the Gophers in that one.
Here’s the box score.
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