Austin Hollins Scores 32 as Gophers Advance in NIT
March 25, 2014

In his final game at Williams Arena Austin Hollins scored a career-high 32 points, leading the Minnesota Gophers to an 81-73 comeback win over the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles in the third round of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). With three NIT wins on their home court, the Gophers advance to Madison Square Garden in New York for the final games.

“This was a great win for us.” Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said after the game. “Our goal was to make the NCAA tournament, but our team has really been enjoying this experience which you don’t always see. They’re playing with passion and pride. They understand that they don’t want their seniors to walk off their home court with a loss. They understand the growth of this program. Our defense has improved so much over the last couple of games. Austin Hollins had an unbelievable night tonight, and that is the way he should have walked off the court. He deserves this kind of success.”

The Golden Eagles, with a small lineup, outrebounded the Gophers throughout the game, although the entry of Minnesota big-man Mo Walker early in the first half negated some of that. Coming in with the Gophers down 13-4, Walker grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds, fed teammates when he was double-teamed, and clogged the middle at the other end of the court. Walker finished the game with 12 points, 4 assists, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. “Coach said they were a great rebounding team,” said Walker. “We just had to keep boxing out hard. There were a few that got away from us, but we got the job done.”

Southern Mississippi held a 33-25 lead when Hollins hit a three pointer. After a basket by Michael Craig made the score 35-27. Hollins responded with another three while drawing a foul from Daveon Boardingham. Knocked to the floor, Hollins pumped his fist, got up, and converted the free throw. “I knocked down a couple shots early,” said Hollins. “Once you see it go through the net, it helps a lot, as a shooter especially. There were a lot of gaps in the zone, so we were able to get a lot of open looks, and that helped as well.” Another Hollins three-pointer tied the game. He then got an offensive rebound and popped a shot back in to put the Gophers in front.

Aaron Brown responded with a three-pointer to give the Eagles their final lead of the night, but it was quickly erased on a basket by Minnesota’s Joey King.

Hollins capped the half with his fifth three-pointer of the game, giving him 18 points and Minnesota a 44-40 lead. The Gophers shot 51.6 percent from the field, including 8 of 19 shots made from beyond the arc, helping to negate a 21-12 rebounding edge by Southern Mississippi.

Minnesota came out strong in the second half and increased its lead at several points to 13. Speedy point guard Neil Watson kept the Eagles close with some long-range gunning, and Boardingham had a strong second half before fouling out in the final seconds. Boardingham had 15 points and 5 rebounds, while Watson led Eagles scores with 16 points while also getting 6 assists. Despite the efforts of Boardingham and Watson, the Golden Eagles never got closer than five points to Minnesota.

The Gophers were solid at the free-throw line, making 90 percent of their tries with Hollins connecting on all 10 of his attempts. His final nine points came at the line as the Golden Eagles were forced to foul near the end.

Joey King helped keep the Eagles away by scoring 11 of his 15 points in the second half.

“We turned the ball over a couple of times, which lead to transition opportunities,” said Southern Mississippi coach Donnie Tyndall. The biggest thing is we took three or four really bad shots when [Minnesota] made their run late in the first half. Those bad shots are what we call shooting turnovers. They led to transition opportunities where we fouled or they made a three. In fact, one time they made a three and we fouled.”

Minnesota made it to the NIT championship game two years ago, losing to Stanford in the title game. “It’s a great feeling leaving the Barn like this, especially as a senior being here for four years and coming out with a game like this,” Hollins concluded. “We aren’t finished yet. We still have to go to New York. We want to end the season with a win.”