Williams and Gophers Rebound (and More) in Easy Win over Nebraska
January 29, 2013
Dropping from a top 10 ranking and in danger of falling out of the top 25, the Minnesota Gophers and senior forward Rodney Williams have had struggles that mirrored one another. It was Williams who missed a last-second free throw that could have tied a game against Wisconsin the previous weekend, instead resulting in the Gophers’ fourth-straight loss.
In came Nebraska, a team near the bottom of the Big Ten standings, and Williams put Minnesota on the board early and often in an 84-65 win at Williams Arena. After Trevor Mbakwe easily won the opening tap over the taller Brandon Ubel, Austin Hollins got a pass inside to Williams, who dunked the ball for a 2-0 lead only 14 seconds into the game.
“When he dunked the first possession, I thought ‘uh, oh,’” said Nebraska coach Tim Miles. It only got worse for the Cornhuskers. Williams followed with a pair of free throws and a putback dunk, and Minnesota (which also got a free throw from Hollins during the run) had a 7-0 lead. A layup and another dunk after a steal by Hollins gave Williams 10 points. He then buried a fadeaway from the lane to give him 12 points and the Gophers a 23-8 lead before taking a seat on the bench at the second media time out.
Williams finished the half with 19 points, including going 6 for 6 at the free-throw line. For the game, he had 23 points and 5 rebounds, including 3 offensive boards.
“We had a good game plan for tonight,” said Minnesota coach Tubby Smith. “We were able to make some shots early on and get in that press. I think that was a key to the game.”
While the Minnesota starters were getting a rest in the first half, Nebraska cut the lead to single-digits, led by Ray Gallegos, a junior guard. Gallegos popped four three-points amid his 8 of 12 shooting in the first half. “Ray was phenomenal,” said Miles. “There was no one to pick him up.” Gallegos finished the game with 30 points.
Both teams had hot hands in the first half. The Gophers connected on 55.2 percent of their shots from the field, and the Cornhuskers were even better, shooting 63.6 percent. Each team finished the game with a shooting percentage of better than .54. The difference, though, included the number of shots taken. Minnesota launched 59 shots to 44 for Nebraska.
Turnovers resulted in the shooting disparity. Minnesota had only 3 in each half while Nebraska, bothered at times by the Gophers’ press, turned the ball over 13 times. In addition, the Gophers were strong on the boards, pulling down 16 of their 36 rebounds (to a total of 19 for Nebraska) on the offensive end, and had 20 second-chance points. Several were putbacks, and Minnesota scored 44 points, more than half its game total, from the paint.
“Their inside presence doesn’t give you that physical play, so we were able to maybe get away with some things tonight,” Smith said. “But I thought defensively tonight we played a lot smarter. We played without fouling.”
Gopher Holes: Miles, in his first season with the Cornhuskers, has coached in the region, including Mayville State in North Dakota, North Dakota State, and Southwest State in Marshall, Minnesota. Miles then went to Colorado State and coached there for five seasons before moving to Nebraska.
Minnesota gets three of its next four games at home, starting with Iowa on Sunday.