University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Creates Havoc for Iowa, 86-74
1/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Iowa City -- Minnesota opened the game with a 21-4 run, and the Golden Gophers' pressure defense forced a total of 25 turnovers during an 86-74 victory over Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Saturday afternoon.
Junior guard Blake Hoffarber continued his solid play for head coach Tubby Smith's Gophers, scoring 17 of his game-high 24 points in the opening half. Hoffarber made 8-of-11 field goals in the game, including 5-of-7 three-pointers, while adding six rebounds in the win, Minnesota's seventh straight.
The Gophers (11-3, 2-0 Big Ten) forced six Iowa turnovers in the first 4:28 of the game to open their big lead. Hoffarber connected on his first four three-point attempts, with his fourth trey making it 33-14 in favor of the Gophers. On the ensuing possession, he scored on a layup and drew a foul, making the free throw for his 17th point and a 36-14 advantage with 8:40 left in the half.
Minnesota dominated play in the opening 20 minutes by forcing 18 Hawkeye turnovers, and scoring 31 points off those miscues. The Gophers had 14 steals at halftime, and had tallied 30 points in the paint on their way to a 49-32 lead, which could have been larger if not for a 12-4 Iowa run to close the half.
"We forced quite a few turnovers there, and that was a key to us getting our game going," Smith said. "Blake (Hoffarber) hit some shots early on, but I'm impressed with how tough the Hawkeyes are. We had a chance there to pull away, and they never gave up. They played extremely hard, and we played extremely hard, so it was a good win for us on the road in the Big Ten."
Senior forward Damian Johnson made 6-of-7 field goals for 13 points to go along with five rebounds, four blocked shots, three assists, and three steals, while sophomore guard Devoe Joseph came off the bench to score 12 points and dish out five assists. Senior guard Lawrence Westbrook finished with nine points and four assists, while senior guard Devron Bostick tallied eight points and a team-high seven rebounds in a reserve role.
Iowa (5-9, 0-2) was led by 14 points and nine rebounds from Matt Gatens, while Eric May added 13 points and eight boards. But the 25 turnovers the Hawkeyes commited were the decisive factor in the game, as Minnesota finished with 45 points off of those turnovers and recorded an impressive total of 50 points in the paint despite the absence of sophomore center Ralph Sampson III, who injured his right ankle during practice earlier this week.
"I thought coming in that (Minnesota) had the talent to compete for a championship in this league," Iowa head coach Todd Lickliter said. "They've got talent in every position, and depth, so I think they are a contender."
"You can work on all kinds of things in practice, but it's very hard to simulate the kind of speed and length you saw tonight (from Minnesota)," Lickliter said. "We changed our alignment in the second half and it seemed to be more effective."
As a team, Minnesota made 35-of-70 (.500) field goals, including 8-of-21 (.381) from beyond the three-point arc. The Gophers, who led by as many as 26 points, dished out 23 assists, while finishing with 17 steals and four blocks in the win. Iowa made 26-of-58 (.448) attempts from the field, which included 11-of-26 (.423) treys, and the Hawkeyes managed a slim 37-35 advantage on the glass.
Minnesota, which is off to a 2-0 start in Big Ten play for the first time since the 2004-05 Gophers opened with wins against Penn State and Purdue, now has two days to prepare for Tuesday night's game with the fourth-ranked Boilermakers (13-0, 1-0 Big Ten) in West Lafayette. That game is set to be televised live on ESPN, with tipoff set for 6:00 p.m. (Central) at Purdue's Mackey Arena.
