Gophers Have No Trouble with Santa Clara
December 22, 2007

Fueled by a season-high 18 steals, the Minnesota Gophers defeated the Santa Clara Broncos 68-50. Santa Clara had 26 turnovers, 14 in the first half, which provided the key difference in the game as the Broncos outshot and outrebounded the Gophers.

Dan Coleman led the Gophers with 20 points and six steals. Two of his steals early in the game sparked a 15-point run that put Minnesota ahead to stay. After Mitch Henke, a graduate of Hopkins High School, had put Santa Clara ahead 5-3 with a three-point basket, Coleman tied the score with a pair of free throws. He then stepped in front of a routine pass from point-guard Brody Angley to fellow guard Calvin Johnson, grabbed the ball and cruised in for a dunk. Angley then tried a long pass downcourt that Coleman stole. Down at the other end, he connected on a turnaround jumper for a 9-5 lead.

Minnesota scored 29 points off turnovers. Coach Tubby Smith said, “The easy baskets in transition after steals were needed because we didn’t shoot the ball well from the outside.” Coleman made 8 of 13 shots from the field, the only Gopher to top 50 percent in shooting. For the game, Minnesota made 24 of 50 for a shooting percentage of .407. The Broncos made 47.4 percent of their field-goal attempts, but, because of the turnovers, had far fewer shots (connecting on 18 of 38). The high number of missed shots by the Gophers helped Santa Clara pull down 34 rebounds, 26 off Minnesota misses. While the Gophers had just 27 rebounds, 13 of them were off the offensive boards, giving them second and sometimes third chances that mitigated their poor shooting.

Minnesota did a good job bottling up Santa Clara’s junior center, John Bryant, who came into the game averaging 19.7 points and 8.6 minutes while spending an average of just 25.8 minutes per game on the floor. Bryant averaged more than three fouls per game, an indication of the reason for his limited playing time. Against Minnesota, he got his 25 minutes in between the four fouls he racked up; however, he scored only 10 points and had only four rebounds. Smith said their strategy was to “contain and control” Bryant and that the Gophers did a good job in limiting his touches.

Although Smith thought his team allowed too many uncontested shots, he thought the Gophers were hungry, eager, focused, and ready in playing their first game in 10 days. Minnesota upped its record to 8-1 in its last appearance at Williams Arena before the opening of the Big Ten season.