University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Play Host to Winona State on Monday
11/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Gophers/Warriors Preview: The Gophers close the exhibition season against the Winona State Warriors, a Division II team out of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Winona State finished the 2009-10 season with a 20-10 mark, falling in the first round of the NCAA Division II National Tournament. It was the sixth consecutive season the Warriors advanced to the postseason. WSU went to three straight Division II National Title games, winning titles in 2006 & 2008.
The Warriors are coached by Mike Leaf, who comes into the season with a career record of 270-108 in 12 seasons as a head coach, all at Winona State. Leaf has won two National Titles, six NSIC Championships and has been named the National Coach of the Year twice.
Minnesota is led by its head coach Tubby Smith, who is in his fourth season on the Gopher bench. Smith has a career record of 450-184 in 19 seasons. He is 63-39 with the Gophers and has guided the team to three straight 20-win seasons and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
Senior Blake Hoffarber is the top returning scorer for Minnesota, after averaging a career-high 10.0 points per game while shooting .496% from the field. He led the country in three-point shooting for much of the season and finished with a team-record 85 three-point field goals.
Junior Devoe Joseph also returns after taking over the point guard role midway through the season. Joseph, who started the final 19 games of the season, averaged a career-high 9.4 ppg and was named to the All-Big Ten Tournament Team after leading the Gophers into the Big Ten Tournament Championship game.
The front court returns juniors Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson, who averaged 8.2 and 5.0 points, respectively, last season. The duo combined to average nearly 10 rebounds per game.
Minnesota 109, Northeastern State (Okla.) 59: The Gophers opened the exhibition season with a 109-59 victory over Northeastern State Nov. 2 at Williams Arena.
Blake Hoffarber led the Gophers with 20 points, including 15 in the first-half on five-of-six shooting from behind the arc. Ralph Sampson III finished with 17 points and eight rebounds while Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams both contributed 13 points apiece. Colton Iverson led the Gophers with 11 rebounds to go along with 12 points.
Minnesota shot .565 (39-69) from the field for the game, including .423 (11-26) from three-point range.
About the Golden Gophers:
- Golden Gopher Head Coach Tubby Smith's all-time record stands at 450-184 (19th Season), while his record at Minnesota is 63-39 (Third Season).
- The Gophers made their first trip to the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament, where they posted wins over Penn State (76-55), 11th-ranked Michigan State (72-67 in OT), and sixth-ranked Purdue (69-42), before losing to #5 Ohio State (90-61) in the title game.
- Minnesota went in to the NCAA Tournament having won seven of its past 10 games. The Gophers, who finished second in the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense, held opponents to a combined 34.5 percent from the field (136-of-394) in those wins. In four of the games, Minnesota held the opposing team's leading scorer to 10 points or less - Verdell Jones III, IND (10), Demetri McCamey, ILL (9), Talor Battle, PSU (10), and E'Twaun Moore, Purdue (2).
- The Gophers were among the nation's leaders in many statistical categories. As of the NCAA's most recent stats (Through games of March 28), Minnesota finished 8th in assists per game (16.7), 10th in three-point FG percentage (.399), 17th in assist turnover ratio (1.32) and 17th in blocked shots per game (5.7).
- Individually, Blake Hoffarber lead the nation in 3-point FG percentage for much of the season but finished 3rd at .467.
- Minnesota led the Big Ten Conference in blocked shots (199: 5.7 bpg), steals (273: 7.8 spg), assists (583: 16.7 apg), and three-point field goal percentage (.399), while ranking second in the league for scoring offense (72.4 ppg) and third indefensive field goal percentage (.400), field goal percentage (.468) and rebounds per game (35.3).
- Lawrence Westbrook led Minnesota in scoring for the season with a career-high 12.8 points per game. He joined the Gophers' 1,000 point club with a pair of free throws in the second half against Michigan State on Jan. 23. He finished his career with 1,199 points, which ties him with Archie Clark for 20th all-time.
- Westbrook scored 20 or more points seven times in his Gopher career, all Minnesota wins, including a career-high 29 points in a win over Wisconsin during the 2008-09 season and the same figure against Penn State this season at Williams Arena.
- Hoffarber averaged a career-high 10.0 ppg this season and shot .496 (119-of-240) from the field and .467 (85-of-182) from three-point land, also career highs. His 85 treys for the season set a new single-season record at Minnesota, breaking the previous mark of 79 set by Lawrence McKenzie during the 2007-08 season.
- Hoffarber, a junior, hit twol treys against Xavier in the NCAA Tournament to give him 200 for his career, which is also a Minnesota record. He passed Michael Bauer's record of 191 in the 76-55 win over Penn State.
- Ralph Sampson III led Gophers with a career-high 5.8 boards per game. He led the team in rebounding in 13 of the team's 35 games.
- Al Nolen missed the team's final 17 games after being declared academically ineligible by the NCAA.
- Minnesota finished 9-9 in Big Ten Conference play for the second-consecutive season, its first back-to-back .500 or better conference seasons since 2001-02 & 2002-03.
