University of Minnesota Athletics
Bauer Powers Minnesota Past Iowa In 77-64 Win
2/12/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
- Box Score
With 11 points in the final 3:30 of play, Michael Bauer boosted the Golden Gophers (14-7, 6-4) past the Iowa Hawkeyes (12-8, 4-5) toward a 77-64 win in Williams Arena today. Minnesota has now won five of their last six games and five straight at home.
The second half was initially a close game with six lead changes in the first five minutes of play. At the 14:23 point, the Hawkeyes took a 40-38 lead with a three from Brody Boyd. They held the lead until the 9:24 mark when a three-pointer from Rick Rickert tied the game up at 50. Another Boyd three with 5:48 left gave Iowa a 58-57 lead but a Kevin Burleson trey a minute later gave Minnesota a lead they would never relinquish. The Golden Gophers held strong from that point on and a crowd-pleasing dunk from Maurice Hargrow with just under a minute remaining put the Gophers up 77-62. Yet, it was Bauer's 11 points in the final 3:30 that got the crowd roaring and pushed gave Minnesota the 77-64 victory. Bauer hit three consecutive three-pointers during the span. The Gophers shot 54 percent in the second half.
At the 15:27 point in the first half, Rickert nailed a three-pointer to give Minnesota an 11-5 lead, its largest of the half. But, Iowa gained offensive power and gained control of the lead with a 12-0 run capped by Chauncey Leslie layup. With a Holman dunk, the crowd was on its feet and the Gophers battled back with a 10-4 run of their own to tie the game at 21 with 5:48 remaining in the half. The Maroon and Gold were down by three with just over a minute remaining until a jumper from Jeff Hagen at 0:44 brought them within one as the buzzer sounded.
Minnesota allowed the Hawkeyes to capitalize on eight turnovers in the half with Iowa scoring 11 points off turnovers compared to just seven from the Gophers. However, the Maroon and Gold kept the game close in the first half by shooting 41 percent from the field and going 4-of-9 from three-point range. The Hawkeyes were just 2-of-7 from behind the arc.
Hargrow was the leading scorer for Minnesota with 17 points and five rebounds. Rickert had 16 points and seven rebounds. Bauer added 15 points, 13 of which came in the second half, and five rebounds. Holman had 12 points and six rebounds.
Iowa's leading scorer was Chauncey Leslie with 15 points and one rebound. Brody Boyd added 11 points and four rebounds.
The Maroon and Gold have a break before heading to Northwestern Wednesday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m. in Evanston, Ill.
POST-GAME NOTES Minnesota leads the all-time series 92-81 (including games later vacated by Minnesota due to NCAA infractions). Minnesota leads the series 55-31 in Minneapolis. Minnesota is 3-4 and has won the last two against Iowa under Monson...Minnesota has won five of its last six games and five straight at home...Minnesota is 51-15 at Williams Arena under Monson... Rick Rickert reached double figure scoring for the 13th straight game and the 17th time this season. He has 39 career double figure scoring games... Jerry Holman scored in double figures for the sixth straight game, 12th time this season and 24th time in his career. Minnesota is 19-5 when Holman scores in double figures for his career... Michael Bauer scored his 800th career point in the first half... Maurice Hargrow scored in double figures for the 18th time this season and the 19th time in his career...Hargrow tied a career-high with three three-point field goals...Bauer scored in double figures for the 16th time this season and the 48th time in his career...With three three-point field goals, Bauer has made at least one three in each of the last 10 games...Minnesota finished the game on a 17-4 run over the last four minutes... Kevin Burleson tied a season-best with seven rebounds...Burleson has averaged 8.5 assists over the last two games. Burleson had nine assists- Minnesota is 9-1 when Burleson has at least eight assists in his career...Burleson's nine assists ties a Big Ten career-high (Ohio State, 1/26/02)...Minnesota is 3-6 when trailing at the half. This is the first win when trailing at the half since beating Arkansas-Little Rock on Dec. 10 (trailed 46-44), a string of five losses...Minnesota tied a Big Ten season-high with 11 three-pointers (Michigan, 1/22).
Post-Game Quotes
Guard Kevin Burleson
"We needed this game bad. This was a must win and if we would have lost this game it would have made the road all the more tougher to get to the NCAAs."
"Tonight we kept fighting. They weren't going to go away and we were in some foul trouble. We were hoping to wear them down, and at the end I think our depth pulled out the game for us."
Forward Michael Bauer
"Guys game up huge tonight. We hit the shots down the stretch that we hadn't been able to do in many of our close games this year. Iowa gave us quite the battle. And, brought the game down to the last five minutes. I think then they hit the wall with their lack of depth and couldn't counter our run to close the game."
"I came in refreshed since I was on the bench with four fouls. And, even after missing my first three, I knew that I was going to have the chances again to knock down some big shots. I'm just fortunate my teammates were able to stay in the game with me and Jerry (Holman) on the bench with four fouls."
Guard Maurice Hargrow
"Iowa is a very good road team and we knew this was going to be a highly contested game. They almost came in here and played great for the whole 40 minutes. We were fortunate that we were able to pour in on during the last five minutes and run away with this victory. I credit this team for persevering through a game we didn't really play well in."
" Kevin Burleson was huge tonight. Any time your point guard dishes out nine assists you know he's really seeing the floor. His shot really got our run going and turned out to be the difference in the game."
POST-GAME QUOTES
Dan Monson - Minnesota Head Coach
"That was the closest 13-point game that I've ever been involved in. It certainly didn't feel like a 13-point game. It was hard fought emotionally and with our energy. It was a defensive battle."
"Give our players credit. That's how we're going to win. Good teams get wins that are not perfect. Today was a game we could have lost, but didn't."
"KB hit a big three, but also got every big rebound when we needed it. He had seven rebounds, nine assists and no turnovers. To me, that is as good as point production. I thought he was as key as everything. He kept us together when we were frustrated."
"I know it's February, but I think that we can get better. We have a week to work on that. We're showing signs of the team we can be."
Steve Alford - Iowa Head Coach
"Well I thought that it was a hard fought game, and I am proud of our team. But we didn't have the toughness down the stretch. Bauer got away from us at the end. He was having an off night, but then stepped it up in the end and that is what good players do. We didn't get that late game performance."
"I thought our transition defense was a lot better. We controlled the tempo for about 32-33 minutes and then in the last seven minutes we didn't get the job done."
On Michael Bauer
"He had some big key plays in the end. I thought we held him pretty good until the last part of the game. We did a great job controlling him for most of the game."
Guard Kevin Burleson
"We needed this game bad. This was a must win and if we would have lost this game it would have made the road all the more tougher to get to the NCAA's."
"Tonight we kept fighting. Thye weren't going to go away and we were in some foul trouble. We were hoping to wear them down, and at the end I think out depth pulled out the game for us."
Forward Michael Bauer
"Guys game up huge tonight. We hit the shots down the stretch that we hadn't been able to do in many of our close games this year. Iowa gave us quite the battle. And, brought the game down to the last five minutes. I think then they hit the wall with their lack of depth and couldn't counter our run to close the game."
"I came in refreshed since I was on the bench with four fouls. And, even after missing my first three, I knew that I was going to have the chances again to knock down some big shots. I'm just fortunate my teammates were able to stay in the game with me and Jerry (Holman) on the bench with four fouls."
Guard Maurice Hargrow
"Iowa is a very good road team and we knew this was going to be a highly contested game. They almost came in here and played great for the whole 40 minutes. We were fortunate that we were able to pour in on during the last five minutes and run away with this victory. I credit this team for persevering through a game we didn't really play well in."
"Kevin Burleson was huge tonight. Any time your point guard dishes out nine assists you know he's really seeing the floor. His shot really got our run going and turned out to be the difference in the game."
