University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to Michigan, 71-63
2/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota (14-9, 5-6) struggled to find a rhythm Thursday night at Williams Arena, while finding it difficult to defend the perimeter, and it led to a 71-63 loss versus Michigan (12-12, 5-7).
The Wolverines jumped out to an 8-2 lead at the 15:19 mark after a jumper by Daris Morris capped an 8-0 Michigan run. Zach Novak gave the Wolverines their biggest lead of the first half when he hit a three-pointer at the 11:32 mark to make it 15-8.
With the Wolverines leading, 19-13, the Golden Gophers went on an 8-2 run and tied the game at 21 when Ralph Sampson III hit the front end of a pair of free throws with 5:16 remaining. But Michigan's Manny Harris hit a pair of free throws and layup to put Michigan ahead 25-21 at the 2:28 mark.
Paul Carter cut the Wolverines' lead to 25-24 after an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:26 remaining in the half, and Damian Johnson pushed the Gophers ahead for the first time since the early moments of the game with a layup that made it 26-25 with 42 seconds remaining before the break. But Harris put Michigan back ahead 27-26 going into halftime when he hit a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining in the half.
Michigan took the one-point lead into the lockerroom despite shooting 9-for-27 (.333) from the field. The Wolverines were helped by a 4-for-9 (44.4) effort from three-point range in the half. Minnesota shot 10-for-23 from the field in the opening half, and was 3-for-7 (42.9) from behind the arc.
Carter led the way for Minnesota in the first half with nine of the Gophers' 13 points off the bench. Harris led the way with 11 points for Michigan in the first half.
Michigan jumped out to 29-26 lead in the second half, before Hoffarber tied it with a three-pointer at the 18:24 mark. After Johnson tied the game at 31 with a jumper at the 17:10 mark, the Wolverines went on a 7-2 run to take a 38-33 lead capped by a layup by Sims as the shot clock expired.
Minnesota cut the lead to 40-38 on a three-pointer by Hoffarber, but Sims answered with consecutive buckets to make it 44-38 with 11:19 remaining. Gibson expanded the lead to 47-38 with a three-pointer at the 9:42 mark. The Wolverines took their largest lead of the game at 57-46 when Sims hit a layup with 5:37 remaining in the game, and matched that lead at 59-48.
The Wolverines led 64-53 with 3:14 remaining before Joseph hit a free-throw and Westbrook followed with a three-pointer to cut it to 64-57 with 2:04 left in the game. But Michigan made enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory, as Sims finished with 27 points and Harris added 20 for the visitors.
Minnesota was led by Blake Hoffarber's 16 points, while Carter was held to two points after halftime and finished with 11 for the Gophers. Johnson scored 10 points, and led Minnesota with seven rebounds in the loss.
For the game, the Gophers made 20-of-44 (455) field goals, 7-of-17 (.412) three-pointers, and 16-of-23 (.696) free throws, including 13-of-16 (.812) from the line in the second half. But Minnesota was unable to slow down Sims and Harris, who became just the second duo this season to each score more than 20 points against the Gophers. Sims' point total was the most scored against Minnesota this season, and the 6-foot-8 forward also led the Wolverines with seven boards. Michigan made 26-of-52 (.500) field goals, including 7-of-14 (.500) treys, to record the win.
The Gophers will now prepare to go on the road again, traveling to Northwestern for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff on Sunday afternoon. That game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
