University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Postgame Notes
3/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TEAM NOTES
- Officially, this is Minnesota's fourth straight exit in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Its most recent first round win was a 64-61 overtime victory over UTEP in the 1990 Tournament. (Minnesota had first round NCAA Tournament victories vacated in 1997 and 1994).
- Minnesota shot just 30.6 percent for the game, its lowest field goal percentage of the season. It marks only the fifth time this year it failed to shoot at least 40 percent from the field. The Golden Gophers finished just 1-4 when they shot less than 40 percent this year.
- Minnesota blocked 11 shots on the game, marking the 27th time in 35 games this season it has blocked at least four shots. It was the fourth time this season the Golden Gophers registered double digits in blocked shots. Ten of those blocks came during the first half of play.
- Minnesota answered a 9-0 Xavier run with a 9-0 run of its own to take a 17-15 lead over the Musketeers with 7:48 to play in the first half. Lawrence Westbrook scored seven of the Golden Gophers' nine points during the run.
- Minnesota's last lead of the game came on a Damian Johnson layup with 18:32 to go, giving the Golden Gophers a 30-29 lead. Xavier would then go on an 11-6 run to take the lead for good.
- Colton Iverson's three-point play with 14:37 to go cut the Golden Gophers' deficit to one point at 40-39, but the Musketeers would score 12 of the next 16 points of the game.
- The 26-26 halftime score marked the first time in Tubby Smith's tenure at Minnesota that the Golden Gophers have entered the locker room tied.
- Minnesota is now 7-8 all-time in NCAA Tournament games (not including vacated games).
- Minnesota surrendered 20 offensive rebounds to Xavier, marking just the third time this season an opponent has grabbed 20 or more offensive rebounds.
- Xavier took 67 shots from the field, the third highest total taken against the Gophers this season (Morgan State, 71, Dec. 8, 2009 and Illinois, 72, Feb. 27, 2010).
- Minnesota made just two of 15 (13.3 percent) three-point attempts in the second half.
- The 28 points scored by Xavier's Jordan Crawford is the second-most allowed by Minnesota to an individual player this season. Only Evan Turner of Ohio State scored more, with 31 in the Big Ten Tournament championship game on March 14, 2010.
- The only other time Minnesota was a No. 11 seed, it pulled off a first round upset, defeating No. 6 Kansas State 86-75 in the 1989 NCAA Tournament. That team advanced to defeat No. 14 Siena in the second round before falling to No. 2 seed Duke in the Sweet Sixteen.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER NOTES
- Minnesota's top two scorers on the season, Lawrence Westbrook and Blake Hoffarber, combined to shoot 0-for-11 from the field in the second half.
- Blake Hoffarber made his 200th career three-point basket with 2:25 remaining in the first half. He finished the game with exactly 200 career three-pointers and holds the Minnesota career record in that category.
- Colton Iverson blocked five shots in the game (all in the first half), establishing a new season high in that category. Five blocked shots also ties the highest individual total in a single game by any Golden Gopher this season. Damian Johnson recorded five blocks against Tennessee Tech in the season opener.
- Fifteen of Lawrence Westbrook's team-high 19 points came in the first half.
- Damian Johnson took just one shot in the first half, but bounced back to go 3-for-6 in the second half and score all seven of his points for the game.
- Lawrence Westbrook passed both Darryl Mitchell and Randy Carter on Minnesota's all-time scoring list. He finishes his career ranked 21st in school history with 1,199 points.
- Damian Johnson's two blocks increased his career total to 191, which ranks third on Minnesota's all-time list.
