University of Minnesota Athletics
Big First Half Run Keys Gophers Past Northwestern
1/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
A big first half run carried Minnesota to its first Big Ten victory of the season with an 82-63 win over Northwestern on Wednesday at Williams Arena.
The Gophers went on a 22-2 run, scoring 16 straight points and holding Northwestern without a field goal for a span of 8:13 to pull away from the Wildcats. Minnesota eventually led 42-29 at halftime and maintained the lead throughout the second half to improve to 11-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten. Northwestern dropped its third straight to slip to 5-7 overall and 0-3 in the league.
Senior Dan Coleman had a big night for the Gophers with 19 points and 14 rebounds for his sixth career double-double, while setting a career-high for rebounds in his 107th game played. Coleman, who had 10 points and nine rebounds in the first half, grabbed nine of his boards on the offensive end and hauled in his 500th career rebound. He is the 17th player in Minnesota history to achieve 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for his career. Minnesota held a 21-9 rebounding advantage in the first half and owned a 40-30 edge for the game.
Northwestern started the night red hot from the field, connecting on eight of its first 12 shot attempts to build a lead of 20-14 with 13:48 left in the opening half. However, the Wildcats went cold from that point, missing their next 10 attempts as the Gophers took control.
Spencer Tollackson scored and was fouled to put Minnesota ahead for good at 22-20 with 8:45 left in the half. Coleman followed up the ensuing missed free throw with one of his offensive rebounds and a putback for a four-point advantage.
A shooting spree from freshman sharpshooter Blake Hoffarber helped bury the Wildcats, who used three first half timeouts. Hoffarber, who was 5-for-5 behind the arc in the first half, hit consecutive threes for a 30-20 lead with 5:10 left to cap the 16-point run. Northwestern finally scored again on a layup from Jeremy Nash with 4:42 left in the half before another Hoffarber three-pointer finished off the 22-2 run as Minnesota led 36-22 with 3:44 left in the half. Hoffarber scored all 15 of his points in the first half and finished 5-for-7 from three-point range.
Northwestern opened the second half with a 9-2 run to close within 44-38 with 16:56 left, however, Minnesota answered with a 14-3 spurt of its own to push its lead to 17 points at 58-41 with 12:41 left. Spencer Tollackson finished a drive to the basket with a two-handed slam for a 51-41 advantage and Al Nolen delivered two straight big plays with a three-pointer and a layup following a backcourt steal to force the Wildcats into another timeout and bring a roar from the season-high crowd of 13,079.
Minnesota’s lead remained at least 10 points until Kevin Coble scored a layup to bring Northwestern to within 70-61 with 3:28 left. Minnesota came back with 11 straight points to pull away and take its biggest lead of the night at 81-61 with 1:09 left.
Coble led the Wildcats with 17 points and seven rebounds. Craig Moore contributed 11 points as Northwestern shot 40.4 percent from the field and had 12 of its 18 turnovers in the second half.
The Gophers shot 50.9 percent from the field and 10-for-20 from three-point range, but struggled at the free throw line by making 16 of 28 attempts to finish at 57.1 percent. Tollackson had 12 points and Nolen finished with 10 points and six assists.
