Gophers Open Season with Exhibition Wins over Bemidji State and Augustana
November 2011
Asked about the value of exhibition games, Minnesota coach Tubby Smith said, “You’ve got to have something to evaluate.”
The Gophers opened their season with two exhibition games, beating the Bemidji State Beavers 71-59 on November 1 and the Augustana Vikings 82-70 November 7. The 12-point margins in both were probably closer than a major-conference team would expect over lesser opponents, and the win over the Vikings was particularly nerve wracking, considering the Gophers trailed by 5 points at halftime.
“We got just what we wanted,” Smith said after the Bemidji State game. He hadn’t scouted the Beavers, so he didn’t know what to expect, which was fine with him. The areas needing attention were working on back screens and defending against three-point baskets.
The same areas plagued the Gophers in their second game. Smith talked of a lack of communicating in negotiating screens, and the Vikings lit up the Gophers from long-range, at least in the first half, with point-guard Drae Murray, a transfer from Sam Houston State in Texas, connecting on five three-pointers and scoring 19 points in the first half.
Minnesota opened the second half against Augustana with a 15-2 run and held Augustana to 20 percent in shooting from the floor, but the Vikings stayed close until the end. A key charging call against the Vikings’ Leif Nomeland with 3:10 left wiped out a basket that would have cut the Minnesota lead to 1. The Beavers didn’t score again, and the Gophers were able to extend the lead to double-digits by the end of the game.
One of the areas of interest for the Gophers is freshman point-guard Andre Hollins. Against Bemidji State, Hollins had 8 assists and no turnovers in 27 minutes. Concerns about his ability to score are still out there; Hollins was 2 for 7 from the field against the Beavers and 1 for 7 against the Vikings.
Bemidji State, which was without versatile Lance Rongstad, who is a quarterback on the football team, fell behind 8-0 before mounting a run to get within 2 points. However, the outcome of this game was never really in doubt. Trevor Mbakwe established his dominance for Minnesota with 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Gophers outrebounded the Beavers 45-23.
The edge on the boards against Augustana wasn’t as pronounced, the Gophers holding only a 44-41 margin with Mbawke again leading the way with 13 rebounds (to go with 22 points, 4 assists, and 6 blocked shots). Cody Schilling of Ellsworth, who had set an all-time Minnesota high-school scoring record, missed his first three shots before finding the range with turn-around jumpers to floaters in helping the Vikings build a first-half lead. Schilling finished with 16 points, and Murray had 22.
“Exhibition games are games you try a lot of different things,” said Smith after the Augustana game. “Coaches want to see the perfect game—it was far from it tonight.”
The Gophers open their regular season, against Bucknell, at Williams Arena on November 11.