Three-point Magic
January 26, 2010

Just when it seemed like the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher basketball team was floundering and on the verge of a fourth consecutive loss, junior guard Blake Hoffarber rose to the occasion to save the day against Northwestern at Williams Arena on January 26.

Northwestern had taken a 49-48 lead with five minutes and eight seconds left in the contest, but before the Wildcats could adjust, Hoffarber drained a pair of three-pointers to put Minnesota ahead 54-49. Senior guard Lawrence Westbrook added a two-point basket for a seven-point Gopher lead, but Northwestern came up with a three-point basket of its own (by Jeremy Nash) to cut the lead to 56-52. Nash then took advantage of a turnover by the Gophers’ Devoe Joseph and scored on an easy layup to cut the margin to two. Hoffarber was called on again and nailed his third three-point basket in just over two minutes to make it Minnesota 59, Northwestern 54.

“It’s very disappointing to have Hoffarber, the guy we didn’t want to beat us, beat us,” murmured Northwestern soft-spoken coach William “Whispering Bill” Carmody after the game’s conclusion. “We were down by eight at half and came all the way back to take the lead with five minutes left and then Hoffarber hit a couple shots to really make it difficult for us. That’s what he does best. We know we can’t let him do that. He played a nice game, and that’s why he is one of the best shooters in the country.”

Although Carmody’s Wildcats were able to cut the Gopher lead to 61-58 in the final seconds, Minnesota held on to win 65-61 thanks to successful free throw attempts by Hoffarber and Westbrook after Northwestern was forced to foul.

Hoffarber finished with 20 points and Minnesota overcame squandering a 13-point second half lead in improving to 13-7 overall and 4-4 in the Big Ten. Northwestern dropped to 14-6 overall and 3-5 in the conference. Hoffarber, who entered the game ranked second nationally in three-point field goal percentage at 48.6 percent, finished six-for-10 from the field and five-for-8 from three-point range. He also hauled in seven rebounds. Westbrook scored 18 points and was the only other Gopher to hit double figures.

Minnesota held a significant 35-26 advantage in rebounds and blocked 11 Northwestern shots. Minnesota shot 57.9 percent in the second half. This was necessary in order to overcome an embarrassing nine turnovers in the period.

Northwestern is looking for its first-ever NCAA tournament berth, and the Wildcats came out of the gate hitting four of its first five three-point attempts to build an 18-12 advantage. However, Minnesota was able to take control with eight straight points after trailing 21-16 with 8:03 left in the first half.

Northwestern followed with an easy dunk from John Shurna, but the Gophers scored the game’s next seven points for an eight-point lead at 31-23 with three minutes left in the half. A three-point play by Hoffarber was followed by a Ralph Sampson dunk and a Paul Carter layup basket. The Gophers led 33-25 at halftime as the Wildcats hit just one of their last eight three-point field goal attempts of the period.

“We had a lot of good looks in the first half,” Carmody said. “But we couldn’t put the ball in the basket.”

Northwestern has been one of the feel-good stories of the Big Ten this season. After losing star performer Kevin Coble for the season due to a foot injury, the team’s sixth man, Jeff Ryan, suffered a torn left ACL in the Wildcats’ season opener against Northern Illinois. Ryan, like Coble is out for the season. The Wildcats thus were written off by conference pundits before the team’s season had hardly begun but somehow were able to put together an 11-1 non-conference record and gain national ranking.

For the Gophers, Damian Johnson opened the second half with a basket and Joseph followed with a three-pointer from the corner as the Gophers gained their biggest lead of the game at 38-25.

Because of the Coble and Ryan injuries, Northwestern has little bench strength. Only one of Carmody’s four substitutes scored.

“Our bench didn’t play well,” Carmody said. “We had some guys in the game who hadn’t played a whole lot this year. Our freshmen, in particular, were up-tight and took bad shots.”

But sophomore starting forward John Surna was able to shoot the Wildcats back into the game, hitting three three-pointers and a pair of free throws to start a 13-2 run and bring Northwestern within two points of the Gophers with 12 minutes remaining.

Northwestern’s Michael Thompson hit a three-pointer with 5:37 left to tie the game at 48-48 and, following a steal by Jeremy Nash, Shurna hit one of two free throws with 5:08 left to give Northwestern its first lead of the second half at 49-48, setting the scene for Hoffarber’s heroics.

Shurna led the Wildcats with 19 points including four three-pointers, while Thompson chipped in 15 points for Northwestern. On defense, the Cats were able to confuse the Gophers with a relentless 1-3-1 trap.

It was a good win for us,” said Minnesota coach Tubby Smith. “We’ve been struggling in close games, but tonight we finally found a way to win. I give a lot of credit to Northwestern. Their 1-3-1 gave us all kinds of problems in the second half, but I liked the way our guys shared the basketball. We had 20 assists on 24 made baskets. If we can learn to make our layups, we might have been able to have a little more comfortable lead.”