Mission Accomplished
November 19, 2009

The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team successfully completed the first phase of its 2009-2010 schedule by defeating the little-known Utah Valley University men’s team by the score of 76 to 51 at Williams Arena.

Earlier in the week, the Gophers had an easier time vanquishing a more formidable foe, Stephen F. Austin out of Nacogdoches, Tex., 82-42. Minnesota will now pause before traveling to Anaheim, Calif., for the 76 Classic tournament and the team’s initial opponent, nationally ranked Butler. The second game of the tourney will see the Gophers matched with either UCLA or Portland State.

The first five games of Minnesota’s schedule (including two exhibitions) were set up by the athletic department and head coach Tubby Smith to bring the Gophers along slowly, building confidence and experience. Those who scoff and call the opponents “cupcakes” would do well to research the fact that Stephen F. Austin was a participant in last year’s NCAA tournament. As for cupcakes, every Big Ten team schedules them. Even the vaunted Michigan State program has scheduled opponents such as Wofford, The Citadel, Texas-Arlington, Oakland, and IU-PU at Fort Wayne prior to the opening of the Big Ten season. That said, it must be noted that the Stephen F. Austin team that went to the Big Dance in 2009 is not the same Stephen F. Austin team that arrived at Williams Arena on Monday night. The Lumberjacks no longer possessed star players Josh Alexander and Matt Kingsley. The latter was Player of the Year in the Southland Conference.

Stephen F. Austin last season was second in the nation in scoring defense, and coach Danny Kaspar apparently is intent in maintaining that status for the Lumberjacks. His team plays a controlled game on offense, milking the shot clock and relying on the defense to shut the opponent down. This tactic worked well initially against the Gophers. Stephen F. Austin led, 16-15, with more than one-half of the first half completed. A successful jump shot by Ralph Sampson put the Gophers in the lead, one Minnesota never relinquished. The score was 26-19 at halftime, and coach Kaspar was content that his Lumberjacks were within striking distance of the Gophers.

In the second half, the roof caved in fast over the heads of the Lumberjacks as seniors Lawrence Westbrook and Damian Johnson as well as freshman Rodney Williams led Minnesota on a 22-3 run for a 42-21 lead over their befuddled opponents. From there, the Gophers coasted as the Lumberjacks gave up on their slow-down tactics. A dunk by reserve center Colton Iverson gave Minnesota a 74-35 lead with four minutes left in the game. When it was over, Westbrook and Devoe Joseph had 15 points, Williams 14, and Johnson 11.

Utah Valley, a NCAA Division I team so unheralded that national sports magazine Lindy’s College Basketball 2009-2010 chose to ignore the team completely. This is not so surprising since the school, located in Orem, Utah, had been a community college until 1993. Even the prestigious Athlon Sports lists the school as Utah Valley State on its website. Never before has a basketball team risen from junior college status to NCAA Division I status in such a short time.

Before the game started, it was announced that Westbrook had come down with food poisoning and would not play. After the opening tip-off, the rest of the Gophers acted as if they too had come down with food poisoning. The green Wolverines from Utah played the Gophers even, and, with four minutes and 37 seconds left in the half trailed Minnesota by 19-18.

“I think we have to learn how to get it going early,” Johnson mused after the game. “We didn’t get in the flow until the end of the first half.” Minnesota led at halftime 32-24. “If we don’t come out and play well, we’ll get buried by some teams,” observed junior point guard Al Nolen.

Minnesota shot only 34 percent from the field and was able to hit on only three of 14 three-point attempts in the first half. Things improved after coach Smith’s halftime chat with the team, and the Gophers took a 55-43 lead after a pair of Williams free throws. The final margin of 76-51 was attained after a three-point field goal by Paul Carter.

As is his custom, Smith shared playing time between starters and their replacements with only Justin Cobbs playing less than 17 minutes. Williams led all scorers with 17 points and Johnson chipped in with 15 points.

The impressive start to this phase of the season helped eased concerns about possibly going the entire season without suspended players Trevor Mbakwe, Royce White, and Devron Bostick. The real test will come against Butler in Ahaheim.

Butler features sensational 6-9 power forward Gordon Hayward, shooting guard Shelvin Mack, small forward Matt Howard, and athletic sixth man Shawn Vanzant. All five starters return for the Bulldogs, a 26-6 team last year that was a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament. Butler plays a national schedule and has consistently cracked the Top 25 over the past few years. After that (most likely), the Gophers will face perennial power UCLA, picked to place third behind California and Washington this year in the PAC-10.