Gophers roll past Alabama A&M, 100-57
November 21, 2017
The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team coasted to a 100-57 win over an outclassed group of athletes from Alabama A&M Tuesday night before a crowd announced at 10,704.
Alabama A&M is one of those teams from historically-black colleges who spend the months of November and December challenging power conference teams in search of big paydays for their scholarship programs. These games serve to fine-tool the skills of their opponents.
No serious student of the game of basketball expects an Alabama A&M to topple Minnesota., even the rag-tag Gophers of two seasons ago. This year, the Bulldogs are ranked near the bottom of 351 schools in Division One NCAA teams.
Further, the school as been ruled by the NCAA as ineligible for post-season play due to academic deficiencies. Perhaps, team members would benefit more from the classroom experience than they do crossing the country chasing scholarship money in chartered buses.
The five players Alabama A&M put on the floor to start the game would have trouble handling UMD, let alone the Gophers. Only Minnesota’s lazy perimeter defense permitted De’Ederick Petty, Evan Wiley, and Arthur Johnson to can three-pointers to keep the score as close as 18-9.
Otherwise, Minnesota was pulling down rebounds and creating Bulldog turnovers in bunches without working up much of a sweat. Soon the reserves were called from the bench and given valuable playing time in a NCAA-sanctioned event.
Minnesota soon had a dozen points off turnovers and a 47-25 halftime lead. Nate Mason had 12 points and spent the second half dishing the ball to teammates. Jordan Murphy also had a dozen points by halftime and finished the game with 20.
Fun time continued in the second half, and sub guard Devin Harris scored on a three-point basket for a 73-41 lead at the mid-point. By this time, Bulldog players were probably thinking about the next long bus ride, and Gopher coach Richard Pitino was clearing out his bench.
As for the game. No one need ask anything more after discovering that both Gaston Diedhiou and Brady Rudrud scored. With five minutes left, it was 86-49.
Davonte Fitzgerald came off the bench to score 13 points. Mohamed Sherif led Alabama A&M with 10.
“I want our starters to play crisp minutes together,” Pitino said after the game, but he also indicated the need for his second unit to gain experience. Both goals were reached in a game played against a small school from Alabama.