Hoffarber Sinks Huskies, Hawks
December 2009

Early in the 2009-2010 basketball season, it appeared that the University of Minnesota men’s basketball team would face formidable foes at home in successive games with Saint Joseph’s and Northern Illinois. Both games, however, turned out to be blowouts as the Gophers, led by junior Blake Hoffarber, carved up and dissected the Hawks and the Huskies.

Hoffarber set a school record with 8 three-pointers against Northern Illinois, whose players showed little interest in defending him. Earlier, the Minnetonka, Minn., native poured in 5 three-point baskets against Saint Joseph’s. He finished the two games with a total of 46 points.

Against NIU, Lawrence Westbrook scored to tie the game at 4-4. On the next possession, Hoffarber hit his first three-pointer with 16:16 showing on the scoreboard clock. In the next two minutes of action, Hoffarber hit three consecutive three-point baskets for a total of 12 points, and the Gophers had a 16-8 lead. At the eight-minute mark, Hoffarber scored on a layup to build the lead to 27-14, and the Huskies were finished. Northern Illinois turned as cold as the artic temperatures outside Williams Arena, and the Gophers coasted to a 44-23 halftime lead. The Huskies were able to hit on only 33 percent of their shots from the outside while Minnesota was shooting 56.7 percent.

Northern Illinois coach Ricardo Patton used 11 players in the half, and none seemed capable of playing defense or adequately setting up shots when his team had possession of the ball. Picked to place in the lower half of the MAC, the Huskies would have trouble challenging for first place in the MIAC.

Saint Joseph’s, on the other hand, brought with it a storied basketball tradition in Philadelphia’s Big Five, along with some legitimate Division I players and a wise-cracking coach, Phil Martelli. Unlike NIU, Martelli’s Hawks were able to keep the game competitive until just under five minutes was left in the first half. Then Damian Johnson scored on a layup to give Minnesota a 32-26 lead. Three-pointers by Westbrook and Hoffarber increased the lead to 38-26. Another Hoffarber three-point basket gave the Gophers a 48-33 margin as the half ended. Hoffarber had 14 points en route to a 20-point performance.

Saint Joseph’s stumbled out of the gate in the second half, and the Hawks soon found themselves trailing by 61-44. Saint Joseph’s was never able to mount a serious threat after that. The final score was Minnesota 97, Saint Joseph’s 74. In addition to Hoffarber, five Gophers finished in double figures. Ralph Sampson recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

After the game coach Martelli observed that the printed game statistics listed his school as “St. Jospeh’s.” He wondered aloud as to the spelling proficiency of those at the U of M. “What’s your enrollment? Fifty-five thousand? You’d think they would teach spelling here.” He might have also wondered about the abbreviation. Saint Joseph’s is picky about spelling out the word saint when referring to his school. It must be noted that Martelli has hosted a talk show in Philadelphia for 13 years and isn’t above throwing out one-liners.

Aside from witticism, Martelli observed that he thought that the Gophers were a better team than Purdue, a team that earlier had steamrolled the Hawks by 85-60. “Minnesota plays beautiful basketball,” he said, noting the Gophers 24-12 assists-to-turnover ratio. Saint Joseph’s meanwhile had 13 assists and 16 turnovers.

“We fought for 15 minutes in the first half, and that was it,” said Martelli. “Our big guys got overpowered. Minnesota was better in person than what I saw in the game films. I have to go back and look at my teaching and how I construct our lineups.”

Hoffarber credited his teammates for “setting good screens for me.” He noted that Minnesota’s three-guard offense worked well because “we feed off each other’s energy. We’re moving the ball around better.” Sampson agreed that his teammates in the back court were successful at “creating good shots for each other. When those guys are hitting from the outside, it creates more room for me inside.”

Gopher coach Tubby Smith pronounced the effort as his team’s “most complete game this season. We stayed focused and wore [Saint Joseph’s] down. We have been getting good at pushing the ball in transition. We’re getting good results.”

Even an erratic performance would have been good enough against out-manned Northern Illinois, a team that entered Tuesday’s match with only a single win and losses to Southeast Missouri, Northern Iowa, and Bradley. The Huskies also were blown out in games with Northwestern and Illinois. It looks like it will be a long season for Patton, especially if he continues to use strange lineup combinations like the ones he used against the Gophers. Among other things, the coach’s maneuvering prevented his star player, Jake Anderson, from playing a little more than half the game even though Anderson was not in foul trouble. No NIU player registered in double figures scoring-wise. Anderson finished with seven points. The final score was irrevelant, but, for the record, it was 89-48.

Hoffarber led Minnesota with 26 points, followed by Westbrook with 15 and Sampson with 14.

“For a while, I just kind of felt like I couldn’t miss.” Hoffarber said. “The rim definitely felt a little bigger tonight.”