Gophers Close Nonconference Schedule with Win over Oral Roberts
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Minnesota coach Dan Monson said the matchup against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles was “a game that concerned me from when we finally pulled the trigger to schedule them.”
Despite being outrebounded by a 46-35 margin, the Gophers beat the Golden Eagles, 67-54, to finish the nonconference portion of their schedule with a 9-2 record. The Gophers had last played Oral Roberts in December of 2003, and Monson praised the progress of their two leading scorers, senior forward Caleb Green and junior guard Ken Tutt. “Tutt and Green can play with any league, any team in the country.” Green led all players with 24 points and 15 rebounds. His frontcourt mate, Larry Owens, had 13 rebounds.
Oral Roberts has returned all its players from the 2004-05 season, when it won 25 games and went to the National Invitation Tournament. More recently, they had lost by just eight points to a Big 12 team, Oklahoma, which was ranked 14th in the nation. Golden Eagles coach Scott Sutton compared Minnesota favorably with Oklahoma, especially the Gophers’ guards. “That’s the difference between our team and the teams in the Big 10 or Big 12,” said Sutton. “Our front court can match up against most teams, but those teams in those leagues, their guards are so much bigger. We’re not used to playing against bigger guards every night.”
Sutton cited the Minnesota backcourt’s role in shutting down Ken Tutt, who had just four points as he made only 2 of 15 shots from the field. “Ken has a hard time when he has to play against bigger, athletic guards. He’s always had that problem. Minnesota has nice guards, and they did a good job of not giving up any layups.”
With J’son Stamper still recovering from a knee injury, the Gophers went with three guards—Maurice Hargrow, Vincent Grier, and Adam Boone—to go with Dan Coleman and Spencer Tollackson. Hargrow had 23 points in the game, 15 in the first half, while Grier had 16 points. Boone got his only points on a field goal and a pair of free throws in the second half, but Monson said his defensive play stood out.
Oral Roberts had 24 turnovers in the game, and Monson said it was “our best 40 minutes of focused defense.” He acknowledged that the Gophers’ rebounding was “not good,” although he gave credit to the Golden Eagles for how active they are on the boards, especially offensively.
Both the Golden Eagles and Gophers have dealt with injuries during the first two months of the season. Against Minnesota, Oral Roberts point guard Jonathan Bluitt was in his second game back after having missed three games with an injury. The Gophers have had an array of problems, and Monson said he hoped that Stamper would be back for the Big Ten opener, against Northwestern, a week later. With Stamper out, Coleman and freshman Jonathan Williams shared the burden of guarding Caleb Green.
“We’ve got areas to improve. We’re not where we wanted to be at this point going into the Big Ten season,” concluded Monson, adding, “Under the circumstances, I’m proud of what our guys are doing.”