Maryland Eliminates Gophers
March 18, 2008

With two minutes remaining in the first half of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) opening-round contest between Maryland and Minnesota, the scoreboard at Williams Arena flashed the final score: Syracuse 87, Robert Morris 81. Thirty-seven seconds later, Maryland’s Cliff Tucker scored to give the Terrapins a 31-30 lead. Minnesota never was able to recapture the lead. It was as if the Gophers feared making a trip to the Carrier Dome in upstate New York. Instead Maryland defeated Minnesota 68-58 and will travel to face Syracuse on March 20 in the second round of the NIT.

Early in the season, Minnesota coach Tubby Smith drew some criticism for substituting in waves and playing his entire bench. As it turns out, wise old Tubby knew exactly what he was doing as injury took its toll in the last few games of the Big 10 season and in the league tournament that followed.

The team that took the Williams Arena floor before a crowd that easily numbered in the hundreds was not the same that started the 2007-2008 season. Lawrence McKenzie, possibly the team’s best player, hobbled around pre-game warm-ups with an injured foot and did not enter the game until the second half. After three minutes on the floor, his pain became obvious, he was removed without scoring a point. McKenzie did not return.

Spencer Tollackson, who missed the entire Indiana game in the Big 10 Tournament with an ankle injury, did not start and was on the floor for only 14 minutes, 12 of them in the first half. He was able to score six points and snare three rebounds.

Various hand and finger injuries hampered the play of Blake Hoffarber, Lawrence Westbrook, and senior Dan Coleman. Coleman fouled out of the game without scoring a point. To compound things, Tollackson’s replacement, Jonathan Williams, twisted his ankle early in the game and was ineffective thereafter.

After the game coach Smith acknowledged that, throughout the season, Minnesota “camouflaged” various injuries to team members, probably to the dismay of Las Vegas oddsmakers.

One Gopher, 6-7 substitute sophomore forward Damian Johnson from Thibodaux, Louisiana, came through to keep Minnesota in striking distance of Maryland. Johnson, who was barely used by Smith’s predecessor coach Jim Molinari, registered a double-double against the Terrapins with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Johnson led all Gophers in playing time against Maryland as he was on the floor for 35 minutes. Another Gopher, this one barely used by Smith in recent games leading up to entrance into the NIT, Jamal Abu-Shamala, had 11 points and five rebounds. Shamala had three 3-point baskets to equal Hoffarber’s total. However, Hoffarber, the hero of the Indiana game in the Big 10 tournament missed five of his three-point shots.

Greivis Vasquez had 16 points to lead Maryland (19-14), which also got 14 points from Bambale “Geese” Osby and 11 from James Gist.

Minnesota trailed by one point at halftime, but Maryland opened the second half with a 12-2 run to take a 45-34 lead. “I thought we were in good shape defensively, but I never thought we had it won until the last minute,” said Maryland coach Gary Williams. “Minnesota runs their offense efficiently and can get after it, so we were never comfortable with a lead.”

The Terps, who out-rebounded the Gophers 47-38 despite Johnson’s dozen boards, controlled the paint throughout the game, and continually attacked the boards. “We did do some things well,” Smith muttered after the game, “but we didn’t get to the line like we wanted to. When one team shoots 31 free throws and the other nine, you’re not attacking like you want to.”

Maryland’s pro-style offense took its toll on the Gophers until Abu-Shamala’s three-pointer cut the Terps’ lead to 51-46. But that’s as close as the Gophers would get. Maryland went back inside to center Osby, who scored six of the Terrapins’ next eight points. A three-pointer by Gist, one of just three for the game by the Terrapins, pushed Maryland’s lead to nine points at 62-53 with 2:38 to go.

Hoffarber answered with a three-point basket, but the Gophers would score just two more points the rest of the way. A dunk by Osby and two free throws by Gist provided the final margin.

Tough shooting plagued both squads during a ragged first half that saw the two teams shoot just 22-for-65 (34 percent) from the floor and combine for 17 turnovers. The Gophers experienced foul trouble during the opening 20 minutes. Minnesota was whistled for 11 fouls, sending the Terrapins to the free-throw line 16 times. Maryland converted 12 and that helped keep the Terps in the game.

Minnesota connected on four 3-pointers in the opening six minutes of the game and led 18-12 after Tollackson sank a pair of free throws with 12:18 to play in the period. The Terrapins began chipping away at the Gophers’ lead on the next possession and used a 7-2 run to make it a one-point game.

“In the second half, they came out with a lot of energy,” Abu-Shamala told reporters after the game. “They took it to us right away. We should have been the ones going out there and throwing that first punch. You have to give Maryland credit; they came out with intensity.