Minnesota has 4 “signature” basketball teams–the Gopher men, the Gopher women, the Lynx and the Timberwolves. Now, it is impossible for all 4 to playu and win on the same night because te Lynx play in the summer. But how often does it happen that the other 3 play and win in the same night?!
The Gopher women kicked things off at 6 p.m. with a 76-57 win in the Eastern Time Zone. The victim was Kentucky. No, the Kentucky women are not the fearsome program that the Kentucky men are, but a win on the road against a Power 5 opponent is always a good thing!
The Wolves were up next at 7 p.m. at home, and played a somwhat lackadaisical game, trailing 53-46 at the half to the woeful San Antonio Spurs. The Wolves rallied to hand the Spurs their 15th straight loss, 102-94.
Finally, the Gopher men were next at 8 p.m. at the Barn, and pretty much everybody I know had turned the game off after Dawson Garcia got injured and left the game with 0 points, and the Gophers fell behind 39-24 at the half. Well, the Gophs clobbered Nebrasky 52-26 in the 2nd half and won going away,76-65!
Gopher women 76 Kentucky 57
The Gophers shot well all night but Kentucky shot well in the 1st half and led 38-36. The Gophers opened the 2nd half with a 14-2 run, as Mallory Heyer scored 6, to lead 50-40. And after outscoring the Wildcats 20-11 in the 3rd, they won the 4th 20-9. In the 2nd half, the Gophers made 7-of-11 2s and 6-10 3s. They made 13-of-22 3s (59%) on the night. Kentucky couldn’t keep pace in the 2nd. Mara Brau
Tn continued her hot shooting with 25 points on 4-of-8 2s and 5/7 3s, thus raising her season average to 19.4 ppg. Grace Grocholski added 15 points on 5-of-7 3s. Heyer finished with 13 points and 6 boards.
Timberwolves 102 San Antone 94
The Wolves shot poorly (41% and 30% on 3s) but San Antonio shot worse (38%-22% and 67% on FT). The big 2, Ant Edwards (returning from an injury) and Karl Towns managed just 31 points but Mike Conley (18 points), Rudy Gobert 16 pts and 20 rebounds) and Naz Reid (15 and 9) helped to fill the gap. Gobert has been playing like a man pssessed recently. He everywhere, he’s scoring, he’s rebouding, he’s setting picks. I’m beginning to think that the Wolves are now doing what management intended for them to do when they went out and got Gobert. They have the league’s leading defense and most of the time they look like 5 guys who are all on the same page.
Gopher men 76 Nebraska 65
The Gophers got revenge on the former Big 8. After losing to a huge 30-9 rally by Missouri last month, this time it was Gophers that rallied, beating Nebraska 76-65 after trailing 39-24. Like the Gopher women, the Gopher men opened the 2nd half on a tear, outscored Nebraska 18-3 to tie in at 42 on a bucket by Mike Mitchell. He was the 6th player to score in the run–Pharrel Payne and Cam Christie had 2 buckets each. The Gophers took their 1st lead of the half on a 3 by Mitchell and again on a 3 by Joshua Ola-Joseph, and they never trailed again. The Gophers shot 69% on 2s and 45% on 3s in the 2nd half.
3 Gopher starters and 2 subs scored in double figures. Ola-Joseph led all scorers with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, plus 5 rebounds. Carrington ad 13 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Hawkins had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists. Payne had 12 points and 4 rebounds with 5-of-6 shooting. Mike Mitchell also had 12 points plus 5 steals. Garcia finished with no points and no rebounds. Who would have given the Gophers a chance, knowing Garcia would fail to score? And the Gophers would trail by 15 at the half? No one, that’s who!
So it was not just a good night for Minnesota basketball, it was a rather remarkable one for the Gopher men.