Murphy, Oturu Shine in Victory
December 21, 2018
In another tune-up against lesser opposition, the University of Minnesota men’s basketball team, after bumbling around in the initial stages of the game, recovered to wax North Carolina A&T, 86-67, at Williams Arena before an announced crowd of 10,144.
The Gophers relied on the inside power of Jordan Murphy and Daniel Oturu to overcome a 25-15 deficit against their opponents, who have embarked on a masked and anonymous tour of power conferences. Very little was known about the Aggies who declined to submit for media members even a crude information sheet.
What was known is that North Carolina A&T, out of Greensboro, is not North Carolina Central, out of Durham. Neither is what one associates with the Tobacco Road teams from Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Wake Forest. Records show that the Aggies has a 20-win season in 2017-18, but were decimated by graduation, particularly members of the team’s front line. Coach Jay Joyner rebuilt with transfers from directional schools Northern Colorado, Eastern Michigan, and Middle Tennessee.
Middle Tennessee transfer Quavius Copeland led A&T to its early 10-point lead while the Gophers relied on the occasional close-in basket from Oturu. The rest of Oturu’s teammates were missing shots from all over the floor. The faces of former Minnesota heroes on the banners hanging on the walls seemed to look down in disbelief. Finally, Murphy took over with a barrage of points and rebounds, and Minnesota led, 28-25, with 5:36 left in the half. Isiah Washington scored to make it 41-33 at he half.
Mental lapses and missed field goal attempts allowed North Carolina A&T to crawl within 65-58 on a Copeland three-point basket, but Minnesota responded with a 19-9 run to seal the deal.
Murphy finished with 30 points and 16 rebounds. Oturu had 20 points and 11 boards.
“Our guards weren’t knocking shots down,” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, who revealed that ever-brittle point guard Amir Coffey was trying to shake off a hip pointer.
“Taking into cobsideration Christmas and Finals Week, this was a hard game for us to play.”