After two demoralizing road losses to the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Arkansas Razorbacks that dropped the Minnesota Golden Gophers from the Top-25 ranks, a home game with the middling mid-major Drake Bulldogs seemed like it would be the perfect tonic.
Far from it.
Minnesota trailed at halftime against their Missouri Valley Conference foe and led by just two with under two minutes to go. But a 24-point, 18-rebound performance by Jordan Murphy and a 16-point second half by Amir Coffey was enough to propel the Gophers past the Bulldogs 68-67. Drake scored five points in the final 10 seconds to pull within a point.
“It was a great wake-up call for us,” said head coach Richard Pitino. “We needed it. As painful as it was, it was like going to the dentist, but we needed that. And we found a way to win.”
Minnesota shot over 62 percent in the second half.
Murphy had one of his most efficient games of the season, shooting 11 of 14. His 18 rebounds were a season high, as were his four blocks. The junior’s offensive rebound followed by a putback with 1:43 remaining gave the Gophers a 66-62 lead after the Bulldogs had cut it to two on Graham Woodward’s 3.
Dupree McBrayer scored just five points in the game, but they were big ones. His only 3-point make gave the Gophers their first lead at 50-47, and his steal and coast-to-coast dunk put them up 61-54, which turned out to be Minnesota’s largest lead.
Coffey was 5 of 7 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line in the second half after a scoreless first stanza.
“He’s just letting his offense affect him,” Pitino said of Coffey, “and I pleaded with him at halftime, and I thought he worked his way through it.”
As many non-conference teams have done against the Gophers, the Bulldogs (5-5) opted to stay away from Minnesota’s tough interior defense and shoot 3s from the perimeter, especially early on. They never trailed in the first half and led by as many as eight points thanks to 6-of-17 3-point shooting.
Minnesota (9-3, 1-1) was held to 30 percent shooting in the first half and trailed 28-24 at the break. As they left the floor after a disjointed final offensive possession, the Gophers were serenaded with boos. It was their first halftime deficit at home since Nov. 14, 2016 against Texas-Arlington.
“I know we weren’t playing well,” said Pitino, “but if the objective is to help, [booing]’s not going to help. Listen, I know we stunk, but that doesn’t help college athletes.”
The Gophers fell behind by nine points early in the second half at 41-32 before chipping away. A 13-4 run tied the game at 45, and once McBrayer’s 3 gave them the lead with 9:02 to go, the Gophers would never trail again.
“We just had to come out there with more energy in the second half and play better defense,” said Murphy, “and that’s what we did.”
Stats to Think About
- Minnesota’s first field goal of the game went to … Gaston Diedhiou. The senior bench player with 39 career points got the nod over Bakary Konate in the game’s opening minutes and hit a hook shot for the Gophers’ first bucket.
- The Gophers were outscored 29-4 by Drake’s bench, continuing an alarming trend of poor production from reserves.
- Freshman Isaiah Washington’s minutes have been cut since he struggled in a loss to Miami. He’s averaged just 13 minutes per game the last four games after playing nearly 24 minutes per game in the previous four.
Up Next
The Gophers get a 10-day break before resuming non-conference play against Oral Roberts on Dec. 21.
