University of Minnesota Athletics
Men's Basketball Outlasts Princeton 57-53
1/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota (8-5) battled through a tough second half shooting slump and emerged with a 57-53 victory over Princeton (6-6)tonight at Williams Arena. Princeton railed to tie the game 48-48 with 2:42 left. But the Golden Gophers were able to put the game away at the free throw line.
Minnesota led by as many as 11 at 43-32 with 10 minutes left in the game. But the Gophers only made two field goals the rest of the way and the Tigers crept back in the game. Will Venable picked off an Adam Boone pass and went in for a fast break layup to tie the game at 48-48. Minnesota scored the next seven points including five by Ben Johnson. His fast break layup with 23 seconds left gave Minnesota a 55-48 edge.
In the first half Minnesota took a 9-7 lead at the 14:11 mark and never trailed the rest of the half. The Gophers went up 25-17 on two Kirs Humphries free throws with 25 seconds left in the half, but Andre Logan made a running layup as time expired to make the halftime score 25-19.
Kris Humphries led Minnesota with 21 points and eight rebounds. He topped the 20-point mark for the eighth straight game. Adam Boone was the only other Golden Gopher in double figures with 10 points, all of which came in the second half.
Both teams shot 46 percent from the field, but the differnce came at the free throw line. Minnesota was 15-20 while the Tigers were just 4- 7. The Golden Gophers dominated the boards, posting a 32-18 advantage.
Andre Logan had a team high of 16 points for the Tigers, while Judson Wallace added 13.
This wrapped up the non-conference season for Minnesota. It hosts Iowa on Tuesday night at 6 pm at Williams Arena. The game will be televised on ESPN.
Post-Game Notes
? Minnesota leads the all-time series with Princeton 3-0. This was the first meeting since 1984.
? Minnesota is 46-15 in non-conference games under Dan Monson and 40- 5 at Williams Arena.
? Minnesota is 18-3-1 all-time against the Ivy League and 12-2 at home.
? Princeton's last game against a Big Ten opponent was against Penn State in December 2000.
? Stan Gaines made his second career start. His other start came on January 1, 2003 against Oral Roberts.
? Gaines had a career-high four assists.
? Kris Humphries has scored in double figures in each of the 13 games this season.
? Humphries had 20+ points for the eighth straight game and the 12th time this season.
? Adam Boone reached double figure scoring for the fourth time this season.
? Maurice Hargrow scored his 700th career point in the second half. ? Jeff Hagen played a season-high 23 minutes.
? Minnesota tied a season-low with just two three-pointers and 20 field goals and also had season-lows for field goal attempts (44) and three-point field goal attempts (11).
? Princeton's 53 points are the fewest that Minnesota has allowed since St. Louis had 52 on March 19, 2003 in the NIT First Round.
? Princeton's 19 first half points are the fewest allowed in a half this season by Minnesota.
? Princeton had opponent season-lows in free throws made (4), free throws attempted (7) and rebounds (18).
? Five of Princeton's six losses on the season have been by four points or less.
? The victory was Dan Monson's 75th at Minnesota (75-62).
Post-Game Quotes Post-Game Quotes
Minnesota Head Coach Dan Monson
? Today was like baby steps. I was proud of our guys for scrapping out a win. This was a tough team for us to play. Defensively we concentrated very well. When we get up 10 we need to learn how to push it to 15-20 instead of 4-5. Being at home tonight also helped us. Stan (Gaines) and Jeff (Hagen) also came up big with their defensive presence. Offensively we need to value the ball more.?
?No matter win or lose we are all working tomorrow. Right now I think the kids are having a hard time with everyone pointing fingers and trying to tell them what is going wrong. We just have to believe in what we are doing. Teams need game plans to follow and we are not the only team in the conference struggling right now. Today was a big step. We only gave up two lay ups all game. Coach Petersen did a wonderful job on the defensive game plan. We gave up some threes but we had to, I think it was our best defensive effort of the year.?
?Stan gave a very scrappy effort tonight. He is fundamentally sound on the defensive end of the floor, and the charge he took at the end of the game was big.?
Princeton Head Coach John Thompson
(On Minnesota's defense) ?They packed the lane, and gave us no lay ups. Their defense gave us a lot of trouble.?
(On comeback late in the second half) ?We made a comeback by committing no turnovers and we also stuck with our offense until we found more open shots.?
?They had a good game plan, because of their defense we didn?t execute as well as we should have.?
(On Kris Humphries)
?Humphries is a great player in so many ways. He is not lacking in any way in his offense.?
Minnesota Forward Mike Bauer: ?We got a little frustrated in the second half, but we kept it together.?
?This is a big game. They tested every one of our weaknesses, but we?ve made big strides since the last game and we?re ready to make more strides for the rest of the season.?
Minnesota Forward Jeff Hagen
?We were doing what we wanted to do. We had a couple lapses but we were able to get through it.?
Minnesota Forward Kris Humphries
?We?ve been prepared to play against teams that play very disciplined basketball.?
On the Alley Oop play??We try to make plays that will boost the team, to get the adrenaline going.?
?We knew it was going to be a low scoring game, but we came out with the win. It doesn?t matter if you win by a lot or by a little.?
