No Problem for Gophers in Exhibition Games
November 1 and 4, 2013

The Minnesota Gophers started their season under new coach Richard Pitino with a 79-57 win over Cardinal Stritch and 101-67 win over Concordia (St. Paul).

Pitino used the same starting five of Oto Osenieks and Elliott Eliason up front and DeAndre Mathieu, Austin Hollins, and Andre Hollins in both games. Austin Hollins had 17 points against Cardinal Stritch, a game in which the Gophers were outrebounded (40-34) and made only 11 of 30 free throws (for a weaker percentage than from beyond the arc).

Minnesota did better against Concordia, both in rebounding and in a free-throw percentage of 82.4 percent. The Golden Bears, meanwhile, couldn’t follow up on a first-half free-throw percentage of 80 percent, making only 4 of 14 from the line in the second half.

A trimmer Maurice Walker came off the bench against Concordia and had 17 points (making 8 of 12 from the field) and 13 rebounds. Mathieu, coming from a junior college in Arizona, also had an impressive line with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals. Andre Hollins had six points, and Osenieks was the other player in double figures for the Gophers, scoring 9 of his 10 points in the second half, when he also got all 6 of his rebounds. Joey King had a strong first have, making 3 of 5 shots and grabbing 4 rebounds; he finished with 9 points.

A number of local players stood out for Concordia. Shea Mandli from Eagan had 7 rebounds, Cole Olstad from Elgin had 16 points, and Terez VanPelt from Osseo had 16 points and 6 assists. On the other hand Chris Halvorsen, who played at Henry Sibley High School and in college at Valparaiso and Minnesota before transferring to the Golden Bears, made only 1 of 4 shots from the field and 1 of 4 from the free-throw line.

With the exhibition games out of the way, Minnesota opens its nonconference schedule Friday at home against Lehigh.