Gophers Beat Akron 66-58
December 15, 2010

The Minnesota Gophers continued their trend of playing at the level of their opponents with a 66-58 win over the Akron Zips. The Gophers have beaten some top teams and have also struggled against lesser nonconference opponents. A month before Minnesota had to overcome a double-digit deficit to beat Siena. Against the Zips, the Gophers trailed by five at halftime despite a massive rebounding edge and continued to be plagued by turnovers and poor free-throw shooting before finally taking over the game midway through the second half.

“We have to play with better energy and come out and play the way we are capable of,” said Minnesota forward Trevor Mbakwe, who had a game-high 13 rebounds along with 13 points, which tied with teammate Blake Hoffarber for the most in the game. “We’ve gotten lucky so far to bounce back and I think that’s going to help us in the future, but we still need to get better. It’s going to prepare us for down the road when the games are going to be close.”

“I thought competitively, we took a big jump. We showed terrific competitiveness,” said Akron coach Keith Dambrot, who had coached LeBron James for two years at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. “I thought Minnesota came out, and they went back to basics in the second half.”

The Gophers came out of a media timeout with 11:59 left in the game trailing 37-36 with Hoffarber at the line. Hoffarber, who earlier had reached 1,000 career points, with a free throw, made both to put the Gophers in front. The lead didn’t last long as Nicola Cvetinovic scored to put the Zips back in front 39-38.

At this point the Gophers finally made their run. Center Ralph Sampson lofted a soft pass inside to Mbakwe, who scored to put Minnesota ahead to stay. Sampson converted a three-point play and, following an airball from Akron’s Brett McClanahan, Rodney Williams dunked after a nice inside pass from Hoffarber. Another Sampson to Mbakwe pass led to a layup that completed a nine-point run and gave the Gophers a comfortable cushion.

Williams had a number of dunks and produced a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. “Yeah, it’s definitely been the best game of my career,” he said. “I came out to practice these last couple days with a different mentality. Just work hard every minute I’m out there. I did that in practice and it carried over to the game.”

Cvetinovic led the Zips with 12 rebounds and had 11 points.

The Gophers next face South Dakota State and will then begin their Big Ten schedule.