Gophers hold off late Tommie push, down St. Thomas 76-62
· Yahoo Sports
University of St. Thomas leadership, alums and Patrick Reusse finally got their wish with a Minnesota/St. Thomas regular season contest, in an early-season tilt between the Twin Cities’s two Division I basketball programs. A matchup that hadn’t been revisited in almost 100 years, Minnesota finally relented and hosted the Tommies in what has surely been circled on UST’s calendar for months. And why not? The Tommie roster is chock full of metro kids who weren’t recruited by the Gophers and saw it as a chance to slay the state’s Goliath. It looked like it might be over early, with the Gophers racing out to a double-digit lead thanks to relentless defense and hot shooting from Isaac Asuma. Minnesota pushed that to a 20-point lead late in the half before going to the locker room with a 40-22 lead, holding the Tommies to just 23% shooting.
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The second half would be a different story, as St. Thomas clearly adjusted to make the Gophers work a little harder on defense, routinely finding seams and wide open looks on sloppy Minnesota rotations. Timely threes, a bevy of Gopher turnovers and easy missed shots opened the door for the Tommies to storm back into the game, cutting the lead to seven on multiple occasions. Minnesota bent but didn’t break, getting to the line effectively and doing just enough to stymie the St. Thomas comeback down the stretch, while walking away with a 76-62 victory and a 2-0 start to the season. It got a little hairy, but Minnesota’s size and strength advantage ultimately gave them a lot of room for error.
THE STAT: Isaac Asuma led all scorers with 20 points. He hit four three-pointers in the first half, en route to 14 points.
TURNING POINT: Minnesota went on a 16-0 run midway through the first half to push the lead to 17 at the time. This would provide enough cushion to largely coast through the second half and endure multiple St. Thomas runs.
HOT: The Gophers were excellent from the free throw line and hit timely FTs when needed, going 19-22 from the line and halting Tommie momentum more than once.
NOT: Bobby Durkin was largely MIA on offense and defense, going 1-6 from the field while scoring only five points.
NOTABLE: With Kai Shinholster shelved for a month with a calf injury, Orono HS grad Nolan Groves served as the sixth man, playing 29 minutes off the bench and racking up 15 points. He looked good.
DID YOU KNOW: Minnesota paid St. Thomas $100,000 for this game, though it is not expected to be a regular occurrence. Not surprising given that Minnesota gets nothing out of the deal other than the opportunity to potentially build the brand of a rival Division I program in its own backyard.
UP NEXT: The Gophers hit the road and face Cincinnati on Monday for a true road game against a power conference opponent. It will be a good early-season barometer as the Bearcats, 2-0, are a similarly ranked KenPom team.