Gophers Cruise to Easy Win over Indiana
February 20, 2010

The Minnesota Gophers beat Indiana 81-58 before a crowd of 14,625 at Williams Arena, raising their conference record to 7-7 and dropping the Hoosiers to 3-11 in Big Ten play. The Gophers had lost in overtime at Indiana on January 17.

This time the Gophers came out fast, taking the lead on a field goal by Damian Johnson and never looking back. They steadily increased the lead, which reached 19 as Blake Hoffarber layed in a basket as time ran out in the first half. One of the highlights of the half came soon after freshman Rodney Williams, who didn’t play in Thursday night’s win over Wisconsin. Ralph Sampson pulled down an offensive rebound and spotted Williams coming toward the basket. He tossed the ball up, and Williams slammed it home for an alley-oop dunk. Sampson said he thought he had thrown it too high but was confident that Williams, with his leaping ability, would be able to handle it.

With around six minutes left in the half, Johnson blocked shots by Christian Watford and Verdell Jones on consecutive possessions by Indiana.

The Gophers built on their 44-25 halftime lead by taking advantage of Indiana traps in the low post. Colton Iverson, double-teamed on the baseline, made an over-the-shoulder pass to Paul Carter, who scored to put the Gophers up by 63-42.

The Gophers were so in control that Bryant Allen, a football player who joined the basketball team after Al Nolen became academically ineligible, was put in for Lawrence Westbrook with 13:05 to play in the game. This led to an interesting flurry as Indiana, with the ball, missed five straight shots but got the offensive rebound each time before Watford scored and was foul. Watford missed his free throw, which was rebounded by Bobby Capbianco. Another missed shot was knocked out of bounds by the Gophers, giving Indiana seven straight offensive rebounds. After the inbounds pass, Devan Dumes hit a three-pointer to make the score 65-47 in favor of the Gophers.

At the other end of the court, Allen hit a three-pointer for his first points as a Gopher. Williams then rebounded an Indiana miss and threw an outlet to Justin Cobbs, who dunked. After a turnover, Williams scored for a 72-47 lead, forcing Indiana to call a timeout with 11:04 left.

“I thought the scoring of the game was certainly that their shooting was better,” said Indiana coach Tom Crean (who looks like Dwight Schrute). “They continued to make shots, but I think our guys continued to really battle even though we got down.

“I think it was a tough night for Christian [Watford], though I was really impressed with the way he kept battling through it. He kept up with nine points. I thought that was a positive. I thought our offense in the second half was really a microcosm of where we sit. The more we move the ball, the more it reversed.”

“I thought tonight’s game was about balance, and I thought we had that tonight,” said Minnesota coach Tubby Smith. “We had our big guys in double figures and did a good job on the boards. Everybody that came into the game did their job. Certainly, Indiana is a team that is struggling right now and we’ve been there before. I thought our guys made a conscious effort to come ready to play tonight. Our leadership tonight was outstanding; Damian (Johnson) and Lawrence (Westbrook) did a good job in setting the tone for us early on by attacking the basket, being smart, and playing tough hard-nosed defense. Then, you look at our 24 assists on 31 field goals, and that’s a good job of sharing the basketball and playing unselfishly.”

Sampson had five assists, an indication of Minnesota’s ability to pass out of low-post traps. Sampson also had 11 points and 5 rebounds. Westbrook, who had no field goals against Wisconsin, led the Gophers with 20 points, 12 of them coming on his four three-pointers.

For Indiana, Dumes came off the bench to sink four three-point baskets and lead the team with 20 points.

Gopher Holes: In the first half, Tom Pritchard completely missed the rim on a free-throw attempt, earning him and “Airball” chant from the student section every time he touched the ball the rest of the half.