Wasted Season
March 8, 2015
On November 6, the University of Minnesota men’s basketball team with a kicked off their 2014-2015 season with an exhibition game at home and a resounding 95-68 win over UMD. On March 8, the Gophers concluded the Big 10 regular season with a 79-76 loss to lowly Penn State at Williams Arena before a disappointed crowd of 12,412.
Although playing with mostly the same cast of characters that started the season, the Gophers have regressed into a group of sad, unmotivated fellows virtually unrecognizable from their former selves. Only these chumps could make the Nittany Lions (3-14 in Big 10 play) look like the Wisconsin Badgers and do it at home.
On Sunday, an early start combined with the switch to Daylight Savings Time saw the Gophers dazed and confused early on. Careless basketball allowed Minnesota to fall behind by 22-17, and it got worse from there. At halftime, the Lions led by 43-34. The Gophers did their best to disgrace Senior Day tradition and left their fans bewildered by serving up a series of empty possessions highlighted by players not knowing where the ball was or who had it.
The only ray of hope in the first half came from senior guard Andre Hollins who scored on three 3-point baskets and a pair of traditional two-pointers. In the second half, however, Hollins went ice cold and was unable to find the basket in what may well be his last Williams Arena appearance. Fortunately for the Gophers, a switch flicked on for a previously inert Mo Walker who kept the Gophers close with 26 points, 17 of them in the second half.
“Andre [Hollins] totally lost confidence in the second half,” explained a frazzled Gopher coach Richard Pitino after the game. As for the rest of the team, the coach “didn’t like our energy” in the first half. For fans in the stands, the energy level was the same for both halves—poor. They reacted by primarily sitting on their hands.
Nevertheless, there were signs of life in the second half. A Walker basket drew Minnesota to within 56-49 with 14 minutes left, but a dunk by Chaska’s own Ross Travis pushed the lead back to nine. The Gophers, however, did have a run left in them and closed the lead to one with seven minutes remaining in the contest on a three-point basket by Charles Buggs. Minnesota then took the lead on a dunk by Walker with six minutes left to go. That proved short-lived as free throws by D,J. Newbill pushed PSU up by four with 3:27 to go.
Walker hit a two-point basket to tie the score at 72, then scored on a lay up for a 74-72 lead, but their energy had been spent. With the game tied at 76, and the clock running down, Newbill had the ball, and it looked like time would run out before he could shoot, but it didn’t, he scored, and the Nittany Lions had won. Newbill finished with 31 points, thanks in part to a porous Minnesota defense that allowed him to emulate Michael Jordan.
Walker had a career-high 26 points (and should have had more as be flubbed a half-dozen attempts in the paint). Joey King added 19 points. Scoreless in the second half, the hapless Hollins finished with 13.
Looking back on the season, the Gophers never looked better than when they were thumping Division II UMD. The now face the eqivalent of Big 10 Jail as they are relegated to the play-in round of Big 10 tournament. To win the tourney, Minnesota needs victories in five straight games.