Gophers Coast to 80-61 Win Over Jackrabbits

Gopher Basketball

Having Vincent Grier and J’son Stamper in street clothes wasn’t an issue as Minnesota cruised to an easy victory over South Dakota State Friday night in The Barn. Spencer Tollackson led the way with 22 points. Moe Hargrow added 17, and Adam Boone turned in a double-double with 11 points and 12 assists.

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.

Talk about the game on our Gopher Basketball message board.

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