Gophers Top Michigan in Their Fifth Overtime Game of the Season

Photo Credit: Brian Curski

There aren’t many adjectives left to describe this Minnesota Gophers basketball season.

In fact, it may have reached the point where a game like Minnesota’s 83-78 overtime triumph over Michigan Sunday evening felt ho-hum. The drama has essentially become a weekly tradition, considering the Gophers have now played in five overtime games since Dec. 27.

The latest in a magnificent run of games gave Minnesota its 20th win of the regular season, a milestone not reached since 2012-13, and kept the Gophers in the running for a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. “I’m exhausted,” head coach Richard Pitino said after the emotional victory.

Minnesota seemed to have the game on ice with just over two minutes remaining as they possessed a 68-60 lead and had control of the ball. But Williams Arena doesn’t accept easy finishes. Not this season.

The Wolverines capitalized on two Gophers turnovers to pull within four, then converted an old-fashioned 3-point play and a driving layup on their next two possessions and found themselves within three in the closing seconds. On a play that wasn’t designed for him, junior D.J. Wilson launched a lengthy 3-pointer to tie the game with 1.8 seconds left, and Nate Mason’s three-quarters court prayer missed at the buzzer. “Our huddle was pretty dejected after that. Everybody was just kind of staring, so it was good for us to respond,” said Pitino.

Overtime, though, is old hat to the Gophers, who’ve now competed in four overtime games at home, including a double-overtime win against Iowa. Minnesota outscored Michigan 9-3 in the final 2:03 of the overtime but had to watch as yet another game-tying 3 from Derrick Walton, Jr., spun halfway down and bounced out with 1 second to go. “I think Derrick’s shot is in at the buzzer,” recalled head coach John Beilein. “It is, like, down. It is down.”

The Gophers opted not to foul the Wolverines in identical situations in regulation and overtime when they led by three and could have avoided a 3-point attempt by putting somebody at the line.

All’s well that end’s well.

“There’s the age-old question, ‘Do you foul? Do you not foul?'” said Pitino. “I’ll take my chances on the NBA-3 heave. I thought we played pretty good defense. He just made a pretty tough shot.”

Overtime, though, is old hat to the Gophers

After dropping a series of close games amidst a five-game losing streak earlier in the season, Minnesota appears more battle-tested and better prepared in late-game situations during their five-game winning streak, which has essentially canceled out the damaging memories of January’s swoon. “Just staying focused, being locked into all the little things Coach talked about,” said sophomore Dupree McBrayer. “The little things win in this league. Rebounding wins in this league. We just try to stay focused on that.”

Sophomore Jordan Murphy was again the Gophers’ most impactful player. He recorded his fourth straight double-double and is now averaging 18 points and 15 rebounds over that stretch. Pitino recently spoke to Murphy and told him to stop focusing so much on scoring and to instead put his energy into defense and rebounding. Voila, Murphy has not only rediscovered himself as a rebounder, but he’s turning those efforts into second chance points, none prettier than a go-ahead putback dunk in overtime that brought the crowd to its feet. “Pretty cool to see the whole place getting lit up like that. That was really cool,” said Murphy. “Just wanted to make a good play for my teammates, and the whole crowd got into it.”

While Murphy was the steadying force, the bench was a shot in the arm. Guards Amir Coffey, Nate Mason and Akeem Springs all struggled shooting from the floor — a combined 6 of 24 (25 percent) — but Dupree McBrayer reemerged from a six-game slump with 15 points and 87.5-percent free throw shooting, and big man Eric Curry finished with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting and was given crunch time minutes over foul-prone Reggie Lynch. “Only a freshman, so there’s a lot to be excited about with him,” Pitino said. “He’s a tough kid. He’s performing in the clutch.”

The Gophers took advantage of two major Wolverines weaknesses in the game — one that they expected; one that they didn’t.

Michigan entered as the worst rebounding team in the Big Ten by a large margin, and Minnesota, the second-best boarding team in the conference, exploited them at every turn. The Gophers outscored the Wolverines 17-0 in points off offensive rebounds, beat them 13-3 on the offensive glass and 44-31 overall. This had been a problem all season for Michigan, who prefers to have its bigs shooting 3s instead of banging in the paint.

The Gophers took advantage of two major Wolverines weaknesses in the game — one that they expected; one that they didn’t.

Free-throw shooting, however, had not been a problem until Sunday. The Wolverines entered play as the top Big Ten team at the foul line yet shot just 50 percent from the stripe, including a woeful 5 of 12 after halftime. Walton, a 90 percent free throw shooter, missed his first three attempts of the game. In overtime, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman missed a pair of free throws that would’ve given the Wolverines the lead. “Very uncharacteristic of us to go 9 for 18 from the foul line,” said Beilein. “That was a big point in the game.”

Minnesota shared in the struggle in the first half, shooting 5 of 12 from the line, but they redeemed themselves by hitting 23 of 31 after halftime, including 7 of 8 in the extra session. Coffey was a perfect 6 of 6. “I use the phrase ‘winning plays,’ and we made winning plays; made winning free throws,” said Pitino. “Sometimes that doesn’t always jump out at you, but we found a way to do that.”

Sunday’s win snapped a nine-game losing streak against Michigan for the Gophers. It also propelled Minnesota safely above Michigan in the Big Ten standings and gives them hope for a double-bye in the conference tournament. Minnesota would need to finish in the conference’s top four and is one game behind fourth-place Northwestern, against whom the Gophers would own the tiebreaker.

Next on the docket is a Wednesday game at third-place Maryland (22-5, 10-4), who is the last team to beat Minnesota on Jan. 28.

Wild
Jack LaFontaine’s Departure Leaves the Gophers With A Goalie Problem
By Justin Wiggins - Jan 12, 2022
Q&A With Former U of M QB Adam Weber On the NCAA’s NIL Policy
By Rob Searles - Jul 8, 2021

Gophers Focused On Themselves as They Prep to Begin NCAA Tournament

Photo Credit: Brian Curski

“It’s business time. We’re here to win two games.” Those were the words of Gophers forward Sampo Ranta as he answered questions following Friday afternoon’s practice in […]

Continue Reading