University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Knock Off Bowling Green, Improve to 2-0
11/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Former Gopher standout Mychal Thompson still holds the Minnesota men’s basketball record for blocked shots in a game with 12 against Ohio State in 1976, but freshman center Colton Iverson gave him a run for his money Saturday night as the Gophers beat Bowling Green 68-61 in front of 11,833 at Williams Arena.
Iverson recorded nine blocked shots the third-best individual performance in team history - freshman power forward Ralph Sampson III added another four, and Minnesota set a program record for blocked shots in a game with 17 on the second night of the NABC Classic.
“That’s a heck of an outing for our second game,” coach Tubby Smith said referring to Minnesota’s cumulative blocked shots total Saturday night.
Junior shooting guard Lawrence Westbrook added a career-high 20 points and sophomore point guard Al Nolen recorded career highs in assists (9) and steals (5) to help Minnesota improve to 2-0 on the young season.
Even with a number of players having career days, Minnesota had to work for this one.
With Iverson seemingly deflecting every shot the Falcons attempted inside in the first half and Nolen’s active hands helping to stifle Bowling Green on the perimeter, Minnesota limited the Falcons to just eight first half field goals and 25.8 percent shooting from the field during the first 20 minutes of play.
And while the Gophers aggressive ball-line defense was busy holding the Falcons scoreless for a six-minute stretch, the Gophers hit their stride offensively and built a double-digit lead. Led by 13 first-half points from Westbrook, Minnesota’s returning leading scorer from a year ago, the Gophers went on a 27-8 run and built a 20-point first-half lead.
The Gophers took a 36-22 advantage into the locker room, but the Falcons fresh off a buzzer-beating overtime win over Georgia State Friday night - showed early in the second half that they wouldn’t be friendly visitors to the Barn.
Slowly but surely Bowling Green cut into Minnesota’s advantage in the second stanza. And after eight second-half points by sophomore guard Joe Jakubowski who went scoreless in the first half one night after recording a career-high 24 points the Falcons cut the Gophers’ lead to seven, 47-40, with just under 10 minutes to play in regulation.
The Gophers momentarily extended their lead to 12 following a three by sophomore guard Blake Hoffarber, but the Falcons were far from finished. After going neck-and-neck with the Gophers for much of the second half, two free throws by Larson trimmed the Gophers lead to three with just three minutes left in regulation.
But on the Falcons’ next offensive position, a key steal by Westbrook helped seal the victory. Recognizing a play Bowling Green had run earlier in the game, Westbrook jumped into the passing lane, intercepting a pass and taking it coast to coast for a layup that put Minnesota ahead 59-54. Westbrook added five more free throws in the final minute of regulation to seal things for the Maroon and Gold.
“They showed their courage and their heart last night and you knew they’d come back,” Smith said of the Falcons. “But I thought we showed a lot of courage and a lot of toughness down the stretch there to make plays and get stops.”
Postgame Notes:
Team Notes:
Tubby Smith moved to 22-14 as the head coach of Minnesota, and 409-159 for his career.
Minnesota leads the all-time series against Bowling Green 3-0. The Gophers played the Falcons on two occasions prior to Saturday night’s affair. The Gophers won both games (70-68 in 1968 and 64-50 in 1980).
Minnesota has started 2-0 for the fifth consecutive season.
Minnesota blocked a school-record 17 shots against Bowling Green. The previous high was 13 (3 times; last 1/13/04 vs. Iowa).
Individual Player Notes:
Al Nolen had five steals against Bowling Green, matching his previous high (three times; last at UNLV (12/30/07).
Al Nolen’s nine assists are a career-high and the most since Lawrence Westbrook dished out 10 assists against Northwestern on 2/6/08.
Colton Iverson collected nine blocks which is tied for third most all-time and the most since Joel Przybilla swatted nine against UT-Arlington on 11/20/99. Also, the nine blocks are the most ever by a freshman at the University of Minnesota.
Lawrence Westbrook’s 20 points is a career high. Previous was 17 against Northwestern (3/13/08).
Westbrook scored in double figures for the 19th time and the third straight game overall.
Westbrook became the first Gopher in the last eight games to score 20 points or more since Lawrence McKenzie scored 22 against Indiana on 3/5/08.
Jamal Abu-Shamala scored in double figures for the 17th time in his career.
Postgame Quotes:
Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening Statement:
“I just want to complement Bowling Green. Coach Orr does a super job. His team always plays hard and they showed their courage and heart tonight and we knew that they would come back. I thought we showed a lot of courage and a lot of toughness down the stretch to make plays and get stops. Lawrence Westbrook had an outstanding game. We had a lot of people step up and block a lot of shots but we had to because they had thirty shots in the paint which was just too much so we have to do a better job there.”
On tonight’s game...
“We came away with a seven point win which was really close. We had some critical blocks early in the game. It goes back to that they were getting the ball at the rim which is a concern for us. We have to find a way to stop the penetration. We were playing against them so well early in the game and they did a good job changing the tempo. They went from in the zone to man to man and got back in the game and made some nice tough shots. It was a big win for us. For our young guys like Colton Iverson and Ralph Sampson and between our three big guys with seventeen blocks, which is a school record, is a quite an outing for our second game.”
On the bench scoring more points tonight...
We have a lot of confidence in the guys that they can make plays and score baskets. I thought that Jamal, Devoe, Devron, Ralph, and Travis made baskets especially in the first half. They were all in the scoring column. They only missed three shots between them. That gives me confidence that we are getting better and that we are playing as a team. These guys are pulling for one another and it doesn’t matter who is in the game, we are concerned about a team win.”
Guard Lawrence Westbrook
On the change of pace between the half’s...
“We played very well the first half and coach said that they were not going to quit so I give Bowling Green credit because they didn’t quit. You usually are not going to blow teams out in college basketball, so they did a good job of taking us off the dribble but we came back in the end and made our free throws.”
Do you expect to get the ball at the end of the game and make the last shot?
“I don’t expect it. The ball just goes to the open guy. I was fortunate to get the ball on the inbounds and whoever has a lot of confidence is going to close the game for us.”
How big was it for you to get that steel toward the end of the game?
“They had been throwing the ball in my face a couple of times in the game and I knew what play they were going to run and I jumped it. I was mad when I didn’t make that three pointer in the previous possession so that was a big steal for us.”
