Gopher Basketball
Still, a little embarrassment is a small price to pay for seeing Vince back in action. He had some rust and was expectedly cautious of his wrapped left hand (he was careful not to high-five with it and didn’t seem to want to dunk with it), but Vince still made a number of his trademark “œHow’s he do that?” plays that Gopher fans have been missing over the past three weeks.
As for the game itself, it was a mixed bag. UNLV definitely looked much better than Arizona State did; their ball-movement and passing were especially impressive early on as they built a sizeable lead. But the Gophers hung tough, eventually tightened up their defense and found some offense, and they built a 37-31 halftime lead.
The lead grew to double-digits in the second half before the Runnin’ Rebels came runnin’ back. The free throw bug bit the Gophers again (they were 17 for 27 on the night), and UNLV hit some big shots to keep the game close. But Minnesota made enough plays down the stretch to get an important victory and put their winning streak at three games.
The Gophers didn’t rebound or defend quite as well in this game as they have been (especially in the first half), and I already mentioned the free throw struggles, but there were also some positives. The Gophers got to the free throw line 27 times compared to only 4 attempts for UNLV ““ the second game in a row that Minnesota has enjoyed a sizeable advantage there. That’s a sign of playing aggressively and not settling for jumpers, and that trend should only improve now that Vince is back and Moe is (hopefully) close. Also a positive was the low total of 11 turnovers (compared to 13 steals ““ a great ratio). That’s something the Gophers’ think backcourt and young frontcourt has struggled with this year, so hopefully that’s the beginning of a trend as well.
Grier led the way with 19 points. Dan Coleman had another solid game, finishing with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Adam Boone finished with 10 points and 6 assists and played a solid overall game, but he struggled with his shooting (although that didn’t stop him from taking and making a very big 22-footer late in the game. Spencer Tollackson had a near double-double with 9 points and 9 boards, although he wasn’t featured in the offense as much as I would have liked in the second half. Rico Tucker had his best performance of the season with 9 points, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds. He shot just 3 of 9 from the field, but half of his misses came on lay-ups that just rimmed out after impressive drives. Rico still had a little trouble handling the ball at times, but it was great to see him play 28 minutes with improving confidence throughout.
With Grier and Tucker back in the lineup and the Gopher frontcourt playing well, the chances of Minnesota making it through nonconference play with just two losses is starting to look pretty good. But Wednesday’s game against UAB won’t be a walk in the park.
Here’s the box score.
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