First Conference Victory
January 9, 2008

The University of Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball team roared past Northwestern 82-63 at Williams Arena.

On January 20, 2007, a team consisting of most of the same Gophers tallied less than half as many points and lost to Northwestern at Williams Arena by the score of 55 to 40. In that game, then-junior guard Lawrence McKenzie led the Gophers with 15 points. Last Wednesday, McKenzie, hampered by an injured hand, was held to five, but his lack of production made little difference in the game’s outcome. His teammates, specifically Dan Coleman, who led the way with 19 points, more than made up the difference.

The five Minnesota starters that faced Northwestern at home last year all played on Wednesday. Two others, one a starter this year, saw extended action. An injured Spencer Tollackson did not enter the 2007 Northwestern contest.

Last season, Jim Molinari took over for Dan Monson seven games into the campaign. A nice fellow, well schooled in basketball logic, Molinari was merely a caretaker coach, and everyone, including his players, knew it. Molinari countered Northwestern’s slow-down offense with one of his own, although the Wildcats proved to be much better at it.

This time around, Tubby Smith stands at the tiller of the Gopher ship. It could be argued that Smith was born to be a head coach and Molinari an assistant. Tubby surprised onlookers this year when he did not to out and recruit a few junior college transfers to juice up the program for 2007-08. He looked at the players on hand and said, “I can work with these guys.” Last year’s Northwestern loss gave Minnesota a dozen for the season. This season, the Gophers have 11 wins and only three losses. The difference can be traced to the fact that Tubby Smith is no Jim Molinari. He is better, much better. Tubby’s players—the same ones who toiled for Molinari last year—work harder, play smarter, and have found they have ability they scarcely knew they had.

Now it must be acknowledged that overcoming Northwestern is not the key to continued Big 10 success. For six decades, Northwestern Wildcat basketball has been inept. Discussion has been known to center on which Big 10 teams have never made the NCAA’s Final Four. Minnesota’s 1997 appearance was wiped out thanks to Clem Haskins’ cheating, and Northwestern has never been to a Final Four. In fact, Northwestern has never qualified for tournament entrance. The only post-season basketball activity for the Wildcats has been three NIT appearances (1983, 1994, 1999).

A big first half run carried Minnesota to its first Big 10 victory of this season over Northwestern. “We wanted to get the ball inside,” Smith said afterward, “and we did that well against Michigan State, but tonight we did a much better job of finishing around the basket. We had some good high-low passes, and we did a good job of feeding the post. That is where you have to go to beat teams like Northwestern.”

The Gophers went on a 22-2 run, scoring 16 straight points, holding Northwestern without a field goal for a span of 8:13 to pull away from the Wildcats. Minnesota held a 21-9 rebounding advantage in the first half and a 40-30 edge for the game.

Coleman had a big night for the Gophers with his 19 points and 14 rebounds for his sixth career double-double. Coleman, who had 10 points and nine rebounds in the first half, grabbed nine of his boards on the offensive end and hauled in his 500th career rebound. He became the 17th player in Minnesota history to achieve 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for his career.

Kevin Coble led the Wildcats with 17 points and seven rebounds. Northwestern shot 40.4 percent from the field and had 12 of its 18 turnovers in the second half.

The Gophers shot 51 percent from the field and 10-for-20 from three-point range, but struggled at the free throw line by making 16 of 28 attempts.

After the game Wildcats’ coach Bill Carmody curiously chose not to single out Tubby Smith’s contribution to the Minnesota basketball program. “Last year I thought their guys had trouble scoring. Now they’re a year older and mature.”