Down 41-35 at halftime, the Minnesota Gophers looked like they were in danger of becoming the second Big Ten team in as many years to fall to the Texas-Arlington Mavericks. Ohio State was the victim in 2015, and Minnesota’s halftime deficit didn’t look like it would be easy to overcome against a Sun Belt favorite that won 24 games a year ago and got most of its team back.
The Mavericks showered in nine first half 3-pointers, while the Gophers struggled to close out on shooters — an issue that plagued them last season.
Out of the locker room, it was a different story.
Minnesota kept UT-Arlington without a field goal for the first 9 minutes, 44 seconds of the second half en route to a 28-3 run. They had four steals and three blocks during the stretch and went on to outrebound the Mavericks — who had the nation’s 12th-best rebounding margin last year — 25-13 in the second half and 47-32 overall.
“The biggest thing we did was we rebounded the ball,” said head coach Richard Pitino. “We were warriors on the glass. That team was one of the best teams in the country at rebounding with everybody back, so we kind of set the rules there.”
Junior Reggie Lynch was instrumental in the turnaround in just 16 minutes of play. He dominated the matchup against the Mavericks’ Jorge Bilbao, who fouled out midway through the second half with just two points and zero field goals.
Lynch finished with 14 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the field and a perfect 4 of 4 from the line. He scored four early points in the second half to give the Gophers a jolt and also delivered a powerful dunk in the first half off a drive from the right elbow. It was a move that Gophers fans haven’t seen from a big man in Maroon and Gold for several years, and it’s something they’ll see a lot more of as the year progresses.
“He’s just so efficient,” said Pitino. “He’s always been that way. It doesn’t look pretty; it looks weird, but the ball just kind of dies into the basket. It’s just funny how he does it. He’s obviously got the length to block shots. I thought he played well.”
Despite Lynch’s highly-effective minutes, Pitino sat the Edina native much of the second half because he preferred the athletic freshman forward Eric Curry against the Mavericks’ many ball screens. Curry, who has already supplanted junior Bakary Konate off the bench, scored 12 points and grabbed seven boards in 27 minutes, and his agile skillset helped the Gophers switch screens in the second half to keep UT-Arlington off the 3-point arc.
“We were just out there guarding the 3, which was the biggest problem in the first half,” said Lynch of the second half gameplan, “and continued to rebound, which was our main emphasis for this game. So it was just an adjustment.”
Freshman Amir Coffey shook off a rough shooting night to become a major part of the game-altering run, as well. He threw down a game-tying transition dunk that knotted things at 43, swooped in for a fast break layup minutes later and capped off his highlight package with a difficult off-balance shot in the paint. He finished the night with 10 points and a pair of steals — his length already manifesting itself on the defensive end.
All told, the Gophers finished with six players in double figures, including all five starters. They also reached the free throw line 40 times — a gritty offensive performance to match an equally blue-collar defensive effort.
As one of the worst rebounding and free-throw shooting teams in the Big Ten last season, Pitino’s team reminded us Monday that the 2015-16 campaign is, for the moment, in the rearview mirror. “This is not last year’s team,” said Pitino, “and that’s very evident.”
