Michigan Gets Off to Fast Start, Beats Gophers 70-63
February 26, 2011

Zack Novak hit a three-pointer as the shot clock expired with 1:37 to play to put Michigan ahead to stay as the Wolverines beat the Gophers 70-63 at Williams Arena in another game between two teams fighting for a berth in the NCAA tournament. The junior’s shot put Michigan ahead 64-62. Novak then stepped inside Ralph Sampson and stole a lob from Rodney Williams and launched a long pass to Darius Morris, who scored and drew a foul. Morris, who scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half, converted to put the Wolverines ahead by 5 with under 50 seconds to play.

In addition to his scoring, Morris was outstanding with his floor play, getting seven assists with only one turnover. Michigan turned the ball over only five times in the game. “If you turn the ball over on the road, it’s a shot of adrenaline for the other team, a momentum builder,” said Michigan coach John Beilein.

Beilein noted the absence of point-guard Al Nolen from Minnesota’s lineup as a key factor. “You don’t play Minnesota and have only five turnovers with Al in there.” Nolen was injured, breaking a bone in his foot after playing 11 minutes against Michigan on January 22, and may miss the rest of the season.

In the game at Michigan, Minnesota came back from a 13-point first-half deficit to win 69-64. The Gophers faced a nearly similar hole against the Wolverines at Minnesota, falling behind 35-23 but going on a 14-point run as they held Michigan scoreless for nearly 9 minutes at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half. From there, the game stayed close with Minnesota carrying a lead into the final two minutes.

Michigan has had many close games recently (losing by a point to powerful Wisconsin on a last-second three-point basket), and Beilein said he told his team, “Here we go again,” during a timeout with 1:52 left and the Gophers up by a point. “That’s the way we live,” he added.

The Gophers had been successful with a zone defense a few days before against Michigan State as the Spartans were cold in their outside shooting (although still making a run at the end for a 53-48 win). Michigan forced the Gophers out of the zone with three-pointers, hitting their first six shots, all from beyond the arc, for an 18-10 lead.

“The game plan was to take away their threes. We couldn’t stop them there,” said Minnesota coach Tubby Smith, adding that they faced matchup problems after abandoning the zone, having big men Ralph Sampson, Colton Iverson, and Trevor Mbakwe try to stay with Michigan’s smaller, and speedier, lineup of Novak, Morris, Stu Douglass, and Tim Hardaway Jr.

hitting shots early and limiting the Minnesota opportunities for defensive rebound, the Wolverines had a 13-7 edge on the boards three-quarters of the way through the first half, matching their total for the entire game in their loss to the Gophers in January. As Michigan went cold over the final over the final 5:45, the Gophers ran off 10 straight points to cut the lead to 35-33 and also gained a rebounding edge of 17-15 at halftime.

In the second half, Mbakwe tied the game with a shot from the point and then gave Minnesota its first lead of the game with a dunk before the Wolverines finally broke the 14-point run with a putback by Morris with 16:56 left. The teams stayed close the rest of the way.

Beilein said Douglass did an “incredible job” in staying close to sharpshooter Blake Hoffarber, who had a pair of three-pointers in the first half and one in the second half before starting to drive and put up jumpers and floaters from the lane. Hoffarber made four of his two-point shots and finished with 18 points, tying him for the team lead with Mbawke, who had nine rebounds, just below his conference-leading average. Novak guarded the taller Mbakwe and battled him for rebounds, the Michigan swingman coming away with five rebounds of his own. “Novak plays so big at six-four,” said Beilein. “He was tremendous, so was Jordan Morgan, in getting those 50-50 rebounds.”

Minnesota outrebounded Michigan 36-38 in the game, but the gap was far less pronounced than in Michigan when the Gophers had a 38-13 edge.

Hardaway, who had five three-pointers in the first half, led all scorers with 22 points.

Michigan and Minnesota have gone in completely different directions since their January meeting. The Wolverines have won 7 of 10 since them to up their conference record to 8-9 while the Gophers had lost 7 of 9 to drop to 6-10 in the Big Ten.

Gopher Holes: Neither team missed a free throw until Hoffarber missed the first of two with 10.6 seconds left. A few seconds later Hardaway missed the back end of a one-and-one. Minnesota made 7 of 8 free throws (87.5 percent), and Michigan made 8 of 9 (88.9 percent). . . . The game was played in 1 hour, 46 minutes. With only 22 total fouls in the game and the teams combining for only 14 turnovers, the game at times went through long stretches without a whistle. The final media timeout of the first half was nearly missed as the teams went from 4:27 to 1 second with the only stoppage coming on a timeout called by Michigan.