University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Handle Jackrabbits, Improve to 9-0
12/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Led by a career-high 21 points, six rebounds and five blocks from junior forward Damian Johnson, the Minnesota men’s basketball team stayed undefeated with a 74-60 win over South Dakota State Wednesday night at Williams Arena.
“I thought Damian came to the rescue offensively. We know what he does defensively," coach Tubby Smith said “He did some great things.”Junior guard Lawrence Westbrook scored 12 points and freshman power forward Ralph Sampson III chipped in with 10 points and four blocks to help the Gophers improve to 9-0 on the young season. Clint Sargent was 8-of-13 from the field and paced the Jackrabbits with 25 points.
Last year, the Jackrabbits came into The Barn fighting and nearly pulled the upset. In a back-and-forth affair which featured nine lead changes and five ties, SDSU was leading with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation before falling to the Gophers, 78-72.
This time around, the Maroon and Gold started fast out of the gates and never trailed in their final game before a 10-day layoff.
Minnesota held the Jackrabbits without a basket for the first five minutes of the game and began the first half on an 11-0 run.
SDSU momentarily got back into the game, making three straight three-pointers to cut the Gophers lead to 13-9. But Minnesota, fresh off outscoring Cornell 43-14 in the second half of Saturday afternoon’s win, put forth another monstrous spurt to regain a double-digit lead. Ahead by four with 11:41 remaining in the first half, the Gophers held SDSU without a field goal for nearly six minutes and went on a 21-6 run to build a 19-point lead following a layup by junior guard Devron Bostick.
The Gophers took a 39-24 lead into the locker room, but that advantage didn’t last long, though. The Jackrabbits who shot just 33.3 percent in the first half - came out of the locker room on fire, hitting four three-point attempts to cut Minnesota’s lead to 53-48 midway through the second half.
But that was as close as the Jackrabbits would come.
After SDSU cut Minnesota’s advantage to just five, sophomore point guard Al Nolen and junior forward Travis Busch connected on back-to-back baskets to weather the storm. And from there, led by timely offense and stifling defense by Johnson, Minnesota went on a 15-6 run, which was capped off by a three by Westbrook that put the Gophers up 68-54 with 3:25 remaining in the game.
“We knew South Dakota State was a good team and wasn’t going to go away easily,” Smith said.Minnesota returns to the court on Dec. 20 for a meeting with No. 9 Louisville at the Stadium Shootout in Glendale, Arizona.
Noteworthy:
Minnesota recorded 14 blocks in the contest.
The Gophers had 24 assists and committed only 12 turnovers.
