Gopher Streak at 43
December 27, 2014

The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team finished their December non-conference schedule with a convincing 108-82 drubbing of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) before 12,711 spectators at Williams Arena on December 27.

The Gophers continued to display their home-court mastery of non-league foes, winning 43 such contests in a row. The last time Minnesota lost at home to representatives of an institution of higher learning was on November 29, 2010, when, as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Virginia defeated the Tubby Smith-coached Gophers, 87-79. The Gophers’home non-conference win streak is second only to that of Duke University. But before you place Minnesota in the rarified air occupied by Duke, one must consider the quality of the opponents faced by the Gophers. Teams such as St. Peters, Lafayette, Texas A&M at Corpus Christi, and Southern come to mind.

UNCW is not one of those pushovers. In fact, in the only prior meeting of the two teams, the Seahawks won, 58-50, at Williams Arena over a Gopher team that coach Dan Monson eventually took to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).

This year’s version of the Seahawks might not be as formidable, but when Cedrick Williams scored off a jump shot, UNCW had a 31-23 lead over the Gophers. Minnesota had started the game in a fog, playing as if effort was not mandatory. Suddenly, the light switch somewhere was turned on, and a different team emerged. A Carlos Morris field goal gave the Gophers the lead at 32-31, and 10 points later, it was 42-31, a 19-point run.

“We’ve got runs in us,” explained coach Richard Pitino after the game. “We were getting steals, and we know we can get easy baskets.”

At the half, Minnesota led by 54-38, outscoring UNCW 31-7. The befuddled Seahawks had turned the ball over 16 times.

The second half saw more of the same. A layup basket by Morris gave the Gophers a 69-49 lead, and the Seahawks caved in. A Charles Buggs field goal allowed the Gophers to score 90 points with 7:38 remaing, and the only questio was how far into the hundreds the team would go. The answer was 108.

“We’re clicking pretty good right now,” said Pitino. “Our offense has been comforting. “We’re fun to watch.”

For Minnesota, Morris led all scorers with a season-high 24 points. Reserve Nate Mason chipped in with 18, and Mo Walker finished with 17.

For the Seahawks, Freddie Jackson scored 21 points.

Minnesota now travels to Purdue for the start of the Big Ten season.