Gophers Win a Pair
December 2017
The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team recovered from losses to Nebraska and Arkansas by using a pair of pre-Christmas games against Oral Roberts and Florida Atlantic to recover their equilibrium.
The victories were not without cost. First, nagging leg injuries kept starter DuPree McBrayer on the bench for both contests. Then all-conference point guard Nate Mason went down in a heap in the second half against Florida Atlantic and had to be helped to the locker room. A severe ankle injury is feared.
Mason, who had been on fire against FIU with five three-point baskets, went down with 16 minutes and 33 seconds left in the second period. Freshman point guard Isiah Washington stepped in with seven points and eight rebounds as the Gophers waltzed past the Owls, 95-60 before 12,357 Williams Arena fans.
Two days earlier, Oral Roberts proved to be a more worthy opponent before buckling before the home team Gophers by the score of 77 to 63.
Jordan Murphy continued his November/December double-double rampage with 16 points and 14 rebounds against ORU while scoring 14 points to go with 11 boards in 22 minutes of play against the Owls.
On the surface, it would appear that, of the two teams, Florida Atlantic would be the more formidable foe, coming into Williams Arena with a 5-5 record, whereas Oral Roberts, hamstrung by a rigid administrative edict, was only 4-10. A closer look, however, revealed that two of the Owls wins came against Ave Maria and Edward Walters, two colleges that don’t register on anyone’s radar. More telling was a 90-54 loss to Texas Tech.
Against the Gophers. FAU never held the lead, falling down by 10-5 on a Mason three-pointer. It went on like that until the lead reached 30-9 on a Reggie Lynch basket. The Gophers pretty much coasted from there, building a 53-31 halftime advantage.
The second half started with Florida Atlantic wishing they were some place other than Minneapolis. An Amir Coffey dunk shot made it 71-35 six minutes in to the period. Everything was clicking smoothly until Mason went down.
Against Oral Roberts, the Gophers were facing a team well coached by Paul Mills. Florida Atlantic played like a team with no coach at all, although Michael Curry did his best to imitate one. Minnesota coach Richard Pitino used his entire roster of eligible players (except the injured McBrayer). Icing on the cake was supplied by deep reserve Hunt Conroy on a neat reverse layup for Minnesota’s 94th and 95th points.
“We started the game with the right mindset,” Pitino said afterward. “And, it turned out to be a good night for our bench players.” He threw in a note of caution, however, when he indicated his team’s offensive play is “way ahead” of its defensive capability.
The Oral Roberts game exposed some of the defense’s vulnerability. The lead in that game changed hands nine times, and the Gophers were out-rebounded by 45 to 41. Before the team knew it, Minnesota was down 24-19 on a R.J. Fuqua basket. Then, with four minutes left in the period, Coffey sank a pair of free throws for a 35-30 Minnesota lead. At halftime, the lead was 38-34.
In the second half, Minnesota went on a 9-0 run to make it 52-40, and the Golden Eagles were forced into a game of catch-up and keep the score respectable. The Gophers had no answer for the 6-8 Sophomore from Tulsa, Chris Miller, who scored 18 points with six rebounds. The ORU beast on the boards, however was Emmanual Nzekwesi who pulled down 15 rebounds and scored 10 points.
Founded in 1962 in Tulsa by the late local TV faith healer, Oral Roberts University sticks out like a sore thumb in the Summit Conference, a Christian beacon of the evangelist movement;
Organized basketball has been played on campus since 1965, but it wasn’t until 2013 that university president Billy Wilson mandated that only devout Christians would be eligible for team membership. Since then, the team has gone 19-15, 14-17, and 8-22.
In the Summit Conference, the team slipped to 4-12 last season. Apparently, none of this has affected the students at Oral’s university as they bounce about on campus infused, as ORU publications indicate, “with the Holy Spirit,” while seeking increased “spiritual growth.”