Fast Start Propels Gophers to 30-point Win over Morgan State
December 8, 2009

Jumping out to an 18-0 lead, the Minnesota Gophers cruised to a 94-64 win over the Morgan State Bears before a sparse crowd, held down because of the area’s first snowstorm of the season, at Williams Arena.

The Bears, who won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) title last year and played in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament, turned the ball over four times before even getting off a shot. Bothered by the Gophers’ full-court pressure, Morgan State turned the ball over three more times before getting its first points, which came on an inadvertant tip-in by Minnesota’s Colton Iverson into the Morgan State basket, with the field goal credited to the Bears’ Kevin Thompson more than seven-and-a-half minutes into the game.

“We threw the haymakers early with the press,” said Minnesota coach Tubby Smith, who noted that the Bears then “got their composure. They started charging the basket.” The aggressive and physical play of Morgan State resulted in the Gophers taking 46 free throws, 39 of them in the second half when the Bears had a total of 24 team fouls (including two technical fouls).

Senior guard Reggie Holmes scored 26 points for the Bears to lead both teams, but he needed 28 field-goal attempts to do it. Holmes, who was averaging 24.6 points per game, made 9 of his 28 tried, including 3 of 12 three-pointers. The Bears took 71 shots from the field, making only 21 for a shooting percentage of 29.6 percent.

The large number of shots led to a combined 89 rebounds in the game, 47 by Minnesota. “We needed a physical game,” said Smith. Morgan State’s Kevin Thompson, a 6-foot-8 sophomore from Baltimore, had 11 rebounds in the first half and added eight more in the second half for a total of 19 (9 of them offensive). Thompson was going for his 20th with two-and-a-half minutes left as he fought for a rebound with Iverson. Instead of the rebound, however, he was called for a foul, his fourth personal. Thompson, who had clashed earlier with official Eric Curry, complained and was assessed a technical foul, which was his fifth personal, ending his game.

For the second game in a row, Smith went with a three-guard lineup, starting Blake Hoffarber with Lawrence Westbrook and Al Nolen in the backcourt, and was happy with the results. “Maybe we stumbled onto something,” he said. Hoffarber made 8 of 11 field-goal attempts and was high for the Gophers with 18 points. Smith said Hoffarber had a solid all-round game and referred to his scoring a “quiet 18 points. You don’t even know he had 18 because he moves so well without the ball.”

Starting forward Damian Johnson scored 11 points for the Gophers but left early in the second half after aggravating a wrist injury. Smith said the injury appears to be a sprain and that x-rays probably would not be necessary. However, the injury affects Johnson’s ability to snap his wrist, according to Smith, causing him to have to push his shot. Johnson still made half of his eight shots from the floor and both free throws he took.

Smith said he was pleased with his team’s overall play, although “we drifted a bit” and got careless in the second half. Minnesota had nine turnovers in the first nine minutes of the second half, finishing with 13 turnovers in the half and 18 in the game.

Notes: Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman took over the Bears in 2006 after an NCAA-imposed eight-year exile for recruiting violations when Bozeman was coach at California. Bozeman inherited a team that had won only four games in 2005-2006 and led it to the MEAC title and berth in the NCAA tournament in his third season.

Located in Baltimore, Morgan State roster is stocked with players from the area. Of the 12 who played in the game, nine are from Maryland.

The Bears wore a 4 on their jerseys in honor of Anthony Anderson, their 6-10 freshman from Charles, Maryland, who is undergoing chemotherapy.