University of Minnesota Athletics
Fast Break: Arkansas
11/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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SERIES, ETC.
Tonight's 85-71 win was just the fifth all-time meeting, with Arkansas holding a 3-2 edge. Both of Minnesota's wins came in Minneapolis, with the other being a 71-64 decision on Dec. 7, 1985. Head coach Richard Pitino is 1-1 against Arkansas, and 2-1 against SEC foes, while Minnesota now stands at 16-11 against the SEC (excluding vacated games). Coach Pitino's fourth-year record at Minnesota now stands at 56-51, and his five-year career mark is 74-65. Minnesota is 5-0 for the first time since Coach Pitino's first season in 2014-15.
STARTING FIVE
For the fifth time, Coach Pitino utilized a starting lineup of juniors Nate Mason and Reggie Lynch, sophomores Dupree McBrayer and Jordan Murphy, and true freshman Amir Coffey. Mason made his team-leading 38th career start in Maroon and Gold, while Murphy was in the starting lineup for the 25th time and McBrayer made his 19th start. A redshirt junior, Lynch has started his first five games at Minnesota after transferring from Illinois State, and Coffey also made his fifth career start.
MORE EXTENDED RUNS KEY FOR MINNESOTA
The Gophers have utilized extended scoring runs in all five games this season. Tonight, Minnesota got off to a sluggish start and trailed 13-7 with 12:50 left in the half. But the Gophers quickly took control of the game, and outscored the Razorbacks 35-12 the rest of the way to take a 42-25 lead into the break. Within that stretch, Minnesota had runs of 9-0 and 16-2. Minnesota, which made 6-of-9 first-half three-pointers, was paced by Akeem Springs (11 pts, 3-4 3FG) and Reggie Lynch (10 pts, 7 reb) in the opening 20 minutes. On Friday versus St. John's, the Gophers used an 18-3 run to rally from a 22-9 deficit. During the 84-67 win against UT Arlington, the Gophers opened the second half on a 24-3 run to rally from a six-point halftime deficit. Against Mount St. Mary's, Minnesota used a 20-1 run over a seven-minute span to stretch a 49-42 lead to 69-43. Minnesota also had a 12-2 run to start its season-opening win against Louisiana.
COFFEY HAS 19 POINTS IN SECOND HALF
Amir Coffey, the current Big Ten Freshman of the Week and the Gophers' leading scorer this season, was held scoreless during the first half against Arkansas. But the talented 6-foot-8 guard wound up as Minnesota's leading scorer against the Hogs, as he tallied 19 points in the second half to reach double-figures for the fifth time. Coffey, who scored 30 points during Friday's win against St. John's, made 7-of-12 field goals (including 2-of-2 three-pointers) and 3-of-4 free throws to pace the Gophers.
SIX PLAYERS REACH DOUBLE-FIGURES
In addition to Amir Coffey's team-leading 19 points, Minnesota had five other players reach double-figures - Nate Mason (13), Eric Curry (12), Akeem Springs (11), Jordan Murphy (10) and Reggie Lynch (10). It marks the fourth time in five games that the Gophers have had five or more players in double-digits, including six with 10 or more points in the wins versus UT Arlington and Arkansas.
TURNING MISTAKES INTO POINTS
Arkansas prides itself on what it terms the Fastest 40, a high-octane, trapping style of play that is designed to force turnovers and create points. Tuesday at The Barn, though, it was the Gophers who benefitted most from turnovers. Minnesota forced 21 Hogs turnovers, and turned that into 26 points, while Arkansas managed just nine points off 14 Gophers turnovers. The 21 turnovers forced by the Gophers was a season-best figure.
TREYS WERE FALLING
Minnesota surged to a 17-point halftime lead by knocking down 6-of-9 three-point attempts, and the Gophers went 3-of-6 from beyond the arc after the break to end the game a 9-of-15 (.600). Akeem Springs made 3-of-6 treys, while Amir Coffey was 2-of-2, Nate Mason was 2-of-3, and Dupree McBrayer and Ahmad Gilbert each made their lone attempt. Overall, Minnesota shot 29-of-56 (.518) from the field, marking the third time this season it's made more than 50 percent of its field goal attempts. The Gophers' season-high was going 31-of-54 (.574) in the win against Mount St. Mary's.
GOPHERS TOP 80 POINTS FOR FIFTH-STRAIGHT
Minnesota topped 80 points for the fifth-straight game to open the season. It's the first time the Gophers tallied 80-plus in five-consecutive games since a seven-game stretch in December 2014. The last time a Gophers team started a season with five-straight 80-point games was 1992-93, when Clem Haskins' team opened the season with six-straight games with 80 or more points.
