University of Minnesota Athletics
Fast Break: Ohio State
1/8/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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SERIES, ETC.
Tonight's 78-68 victory was the 136th all-time meeting (not counting vacated games) between Minnesota and Ohio State, with the Buckeyes holding an 85-51 lead (Gophers lead 35-32 in Minneapolis). The win for the Gophers snapped a four-game losing streak against OSU. Head coach Richard Pitino is 2-4 against OSU, and 21-42 against Big Ten foes, while Minnesota now stands at 738-804 all-time in B1G play. Coach Pitino's fourth-year record at Minnesota now stands at 66-53, and his five-year career mark is 84-67.
STARTING FIVE
For the 15th time in 17 games, 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 52nd career start in Maroon and Gold, while Murphy was in the starting lineup for the 37th time and McBrayer made his 31st start. All three of those players have started every game this season. Lynch, a redshirt junior who transferred from Illinois State, has started 16 games for the Gophers, while Coffey also made his 16th career start. The Gophers are 13-2 with that starting unit this season.
SPRINGS REACHES POINT MILESTONE
Akeem Springs entered tonight's game needing 12 points to reach the 1,000-point milestone for his career, and he came off the bench to score 18, his second-best total this season. Springs began his career at Northern Illinois, where he scored 139 points as a freshman during 2012-13. He then transferred to Milwaukee, where he tallied 712 points over two seasons. This season, Springs has scored 155 points (9.1 ppg), giving him 1,006 for his career. Springs made 6-of-10 field goals, including 5-of-8 from three-point range, while tying his career-high with five assists.
COFFEY COMPLETES TERRIFIC WEEK
Amir Coffey made 7-of-11 field goals to lead all players with 19 points, while tying his season-high with five assists in the win against the Buckeyes. The performance capped a great week for the freshman, who led Minnesota with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting during Thursday'swin at Northwestern. Coffey has scored in double figures in three of the past four games for the Gophers, and 10 times this season.
GREAT START
Minnesota improved to 15-2 overall and is off to a 3-1 start in Big Ten play. The last time the Gophers reached those two marks was during the 2012-13 season. Head coach Richard Pitino's team also recorded its third-straight Big Ten win for the first time since home wins against Nebraska (Jan. 31) and Purdue (Feb. 7) and a road victory at Iowa (Feb. 12) in 2015. The last time Minnesota started 16-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten was during 2008-09.
MISCELLANEOUS ODDS AND ENDS
Among odds and ends in tonight's game, Nate Mason scored 12 points to reach double-figures for the ninth-straight game and 16th time in 17 games … Reggie Lynch had 10 points, his third-consecutive game in double-digits … Lynch also blocked three shots to give him 51 this season, his tenth game with three or more blocked shots … Amir Coffey moved past 200 points this season … Jordan Murphy had his sixth double-figure rebounds game with 11, and recorded his 50th career blocked shot … Minnesota held its 14th halftime lead, and the Gophers are 12-2 in those games … the Gophers improved to 7-0 this season when wearing their White uniforms … the announced attendance of 11,267 was Minnesota's second-largest home crowd this season.
