University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers' Hot Shooting Not Enough In Loss To Iowa
2/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota fired 63 percent from the floor but lost to Iowa 91-78 this evening at Williams Arena. Adam Haluska scored 34 points and Tyler Smith added 19 as the Hawkeyes won their third in a row to improve to 14-10, 6-4 in the Big Ten. The Gophers got 23 points from Spencer Tollackson, who returned after a seven-game absence with a broken hand.
Tollackson made his first six shots from the floor en route to 14 first half points while Dan Coleman and Lawrence McKenzie each added 16 points apiece. Haluska was too much for Minnesota to handle, hitting 10-of-14 shots from the floor and 6-of-10 from three-point range. He also pitched in eight assists and five rebounds. The Hawkeyes shot 58 percent for the game and made 10-of-16 three-pointers.
Minnesota closed to 37-34 in the first half on a Limar Wilson three-pointer with 2:39 remaining after trailing by as many as nine points midway through the first half. However, Iowa answered with a flurry to end the first half. Haluska and Smith each hit treys for the Hawkeyes during a 10-2 run to end the half with a 47-36 lead.
Iowa kept the momentum into the second half, scoring eight of the next ten points to open a 17-point lead at 55-38 with 17:22 left. Haluska's fourth trey capped the Iowa run. After Iowa took a game-high 18-point lead with 16:29 left, the Gophers began to chip away. A McKenzie basket started a 10-0 Minnesota run that included eight points and two three-pointers from the Gopher junior and all of a sudden, Minnesota trailed 59-51 with 13:53 remaining.
In a half of runs, Iowa answered right back with a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to take another commanding 17-point lead at 68-51. The Gophers had one more run in them. A Coleman dunk with 7:55 cut the Iowa lead to single digits at 74-66 and capped a 9-1 Gopher run. Minnesota kept the deficit under 10 points until 5:30 was left when Haluska was fouled attempting a three-pointer by Brandon Smith. Haluska made all three from the line and eventually extended its lead back to 17 with 1:30 left. The Gophers trimmed the lead down the stretch to 11 but Iowa preserved a 13-point victory.
In addition to the 55 combined points from Tollackson, McKenzie and Coleman, Smith ended with 10 points off the bench. Tollackson had a team-high five boards and Wilson had six assists.
The Gophers return to action on Saturday at Michigan. The 7 p.m. game will be shown live on FSN North.
