Gopher Basketball
The scoring wasn’t balanced for the Gophers as no player other than McKenzie or Coleman scored more than five points, but fortunately those two scored at will from all over the court to give Minnesota the win. The Blackbirds shot a ton of three pointers that kept the game close for about the first 25 minutes of the game, but the Gophers had a comfortable 8-12 point lead the majority of the second half.
The Gophers worried about their rebounding ability heading into the season and after a few early games these fears have been realized ““ Friday night was no different. The Gophers were outrebounded 44-39, including giving up 19 offensive rebounds to an LIU team that did not have a player taller than 6-8. The rebounding worries got worse towards the end of the game as Spencer Tollackson left the game mid-way through the second half with an ankle injury. It is imperative that the Gophers get him back ““ he hit the boards hard on Friday night as he finished with 10 boards to go along with four blocks.
Limar Wilson played the best game of his short Gopher career and was very effective in the open floor. He finished with four points, three assists and a steal in 25 minutes of play and really provided a nice change of pace off the bench.
Minnesota now hits a very busy and much more difficult portion of their non-conference schedule starting on Tuesday night against Iowa State at The Barn. Two days later the Gophers head to Orlando for the Old Spice Classic where they will open up against Marist and then have the opportunity to possibly play two teams from BCS Conferences. This next week will give the team and staff a much better indication of where it stands right now ““ but one thing is certain ““ the team MUST start owning the boards.