University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Finish 2009-10 Season 21-14
4/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Gophers' Season Ends with Loss to Xavier:
- Minnesota made its 11th overall NCAA Tournament appearance (1972, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2010), and its second-consecutive trip under third-year head coach Tubby Smith. Minnesota's appearances during 1994, '95, '97 and '99 have since been vacated.
- Officially, the Gophers are 7-8 in NCAA Tournament games.
- Minnesota was awarded a No. 11 seed for the second time. The Gophers' previous appearance as the 11th seed was during 1989, when they knocked off the No. 6 seed Kansas State Wildcats, 86-75, and No. 14 Siena (80-67) to reach the Sweet 16 before falling to second-seeded Duke, 87-70.
- The Gophers were a No. 10 seed in 2008-09, losing by a score of 76-62 versus No. 7 Texas in the first round, and dropped a 64-53 decision to Iowa State as a No. 8 seed during 2005.
- Minnesota's most recent first round victory (not including vacated seasons) took place on March 16, 1990, as part of the Southeast Regional in Richmond, Va., when the No. 20 Gophers defeated Texas-El Paso, 64-61 in overtime. That season, Minnesota went on to defeat Northern Iowa (81-78) and Syracuse (82-75) before losing to Georgia Tech (93-91) in the Regional Final.
- Tubby Smith is 29-15 (.659) in NCAA Tournament action as a head coach. Smith made his 16th appearance in the "Big Dance".
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 two 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.
- Minnesota was 16-2 this season when scoring at least 70 points.
Players Mentioned
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