It wasn’t pretty, but a win nonetheless. The Gophers managed to grind out a 68-67 victory over the Drake Bulldogs at Williams Arena. Two late runs were fueled by a dominating performance from Jordan Murphy. Murphy led the way with 24 points and 18 rebounds. Amir Coffey added 16 second half points to fend off a poor first half on both ends. The Gophers have been out of sync throughout the past three games, but managed to squeak out a much-needed win before a ten-day break.
Early in the game, the Gophers were panicking on offense and continued to struggle moving the basketball. Minnesota would get the ball inside and frantically make an out of control move to the basket. Reggie Lynch was extremely impatient and had just three first half points. The Gophers currently have no inside-out action and their guards are struggling to attack. Amir Coffey had zero points in the first half and was losing on the defensive end. Dupree McBrayer had good looks, but missed his first seven shots. Nate Mason, Coffey and McBrayer were scoreless on 0-for-13 shooting at the 3:48 mark of the first half. Mason and Lynch didn’t score a field goal until just inside the three-minute mark. The Gophers were 9-for-30 inside the paint and 2-for-11 from the three-point line in the first half. There was a moment early in the game where Jordan Murphy had four touches, didn’t reach the rim, and turned the ball over twice. He bounced back to score eight straight points and took over the game. Murphy had a 6-foot-2, 190-pound big man matched up with him and he started to make his prerace known. Reggie Lynch was out of control throughout the game and lacks patience around the rim. He will need to settle in to his role down the stretch. Lynch’s defensive effort late in the game was encouraging, but his play needs to become sustainable.
On the defensive end, the team allowed Drake to shoot 12-for-31 from the three-point line. The Gophers have been lazy with their rotations on defense and Drake drilled open jumpers all night. The Bulldogs scored just 24 points in the first half, but took advantage of the open looks. Nate Mason has been losing his man on defense quite often and Amir Coffey has struggled to display active hands. There are lapses in the overall team defense and Reggie Lynch has been lazy in help side defense. Minnesota hasn’t played cohesively on either end of the floor and they lack energy. At times, their body language has been very poor and they just can’t seem to get chemistry going. The ending to the game provided a glimmer of hope. A 6-0 run, including a Nate Mason three-pointer helped the Gophers square things up at 43.
The Gophers finally grabbed a three-point lead following a three-pointer by Dupree McBrayer. McBrayer opened the game shooting 0-for-7, but finally drilled a shot near the eight-minute mark. He may have struggled on the offense end, but McBrayer locked down Reed Timmer on defense. Timmer was averaging 22 points per game and finished with just eight. McBrayer was following him all over the floor and extending out to keep the perimeter locked down. Amir Coffey drilled a three-pointer at the six-minute mark and Gophers claimed their biggest lead of the game. Minnesota’s guards started to attack more, specifically Amir Coffey. Coffey had 16 second half points, including two impressive attacks off the dribble. He has struggled to get going throughout the season and will need to step up in a major way as the season progresses.
Drake narrowed the Gophers lead to 64-62, but an impressive offensive board and putback by Jordan Murphy shifted the momentum one final time. He ducked between three defenders and finished acrobatically. Two blocked shots by Reggie Lynch and beautiful pick-and-roll action to Murphy helped extend the Gophers’ lead. A late turnover and a missed free throw allowed Drake to hit a late three-pointer, but it wasn’t enough as the Gophers squeaked out a 68-67 win.
Minnesota will have a ten-day break before returning to action against Oral Roberts on Dec. 21. They’ll need every minute of it as they attempt to get back on track before Big Ten play continues.