By Chris Monter
FOXSportsNorth.com
Jan. 27, 2011
The Minnesota Golden Gophers did not earn a lot of style points, but they did win their fourth straight Big Ten contest as they defeated Northwestern 81-70 at Williams Arena Wednesday.
Minnesota, ranked No. 16 by the Associated Press, improved to 16-4 overall and 5-3 in Big Ten play, while Northwestern slipped to 13-7 and 3-6 in conference action.
Minnesota went with a bigger starting lineup with starting point guard Al Nolen sidelined with a broken foot. They started 6-foot-11 Colton Iverson, 6-foot-10 Ralph Sampson III, 6-foot-8 Trevor Mbakwe, 6-foot-7 Rodney Williams and 6-foot-4 Blake Hoffarber.
Minnesota led 29-16 with 5:36 to go in the first half, but Northwestern hit three 3-pointers down the stretch to take a 34-33 halftime lead.
Trevor Mbakwe had 11 points at halftime and Ralph Sampson III and Blake Hoffarber scored eight points each in the first half. The Golden Gopher bench scored just two points in the first half.
John Shurna paced the Wildcats with 11 first-half points. Drew Crawford hit three shots beyond the arc for nine first-half points
Neither team shot the ball well in the first half as Minnesota missed all six 3-point attempts. Northwestern was only 11 of 29 from the floor (37.9 percent).
Minnesota scored the first seven points of the second half and never trailed after regaining the lead.
The Golden Gophers are down to just eight scholarship players with the recent loss of Nolen. Minnesota played only six players in the second half as five players reached double figures
Minnesota was led by Hoffarber, who had 20 points from the point guard spot. He made all eight of his free throws.
Trevor Mbakwe, who made his first start since his recent arrest, had his twelfth double-double of the season, finishing with 18 points and 14 caroms. Colton Iverson had 15 points, all in the second half, with six rebounds, and Ralph Sampson III added 14 points. The Minnesota frontline combined for 47 points and 22 boards
Austin Hollins had his first Big Ten double-figure scoring effort with ten points off the bench.
Michael Thompson led Northwestern with 18 points as he sank four 3-pointers. John Shurna had 16 points and eight rebounds. Drew Crawford made five 3-pointers as he added 15 points.
Minnesota made 31 of 46 from the free throw line, while Northwestern attempted just 11 shots from the charity stripe.
NOTES:
Minnesota faces No. 12 Purdue Saturday at 12 pm on the road. The game will be televised on CBS. The Golden Gophers beat the Boilermakers 70-67 January 17th. The Boilermakers were 29-6 last season, advancing to the Sweet 16 where they lost to eventual NCAA champion Duke.
Purdue has lost three of their last five games after a 15-1 start.
Purdue is playing well, despite the loss of senior forward Robbie Hummel, who suffered a season-ending injury during the team's first practices. He suffered a similar knee injury against Minnesota, which forced him to miss the final eight games of last season.
The Boilermakers are led by seniors JaJuan Johnsaon and E'Twaun Moore, two players who made my Top 20 Wooden Award ballot. Johnson is averaging a team-best 20.6 points (tops in the Big Ten), 7.8 rebounds (fifth) and 2.2 blocked shots (second) per game. Moore contributes 18.0 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. They are the only two double-figure scorers on the team.
Johnson had 29 points versus Minnesota, while Moore was limited to just five points on two of 15 shots against the Golden Gophers.
The Boilermakers have good depth with eight players averaging 14 minutes or more per contest.
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Five Big Ten teams were ranked in the ESPN/USA Today poll with Ohio State ranked No. 1 in the country. Only the Big East had more ranked teams with seven. The Big 12 has four.
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Minnesota signee Andre Hollins, a 6-foot-2 guard from Memphis (Tenn.) White Station, scored 28 points as the Spartans defeated Whitehaven 70-60 Tuesday. Hollins is averaging a team-high 25.7 points per game as the Spartans are off to a 19-3 start. They face Central Thursday, which defeated White Station 60-53 Martin Luther King, Jr. Classic in overtime when Hollins fouled out in regulation.
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The other Gopher signee Joe Coleman, a 6-foot-4 guard from Minnetonka (Minn.) Hopkins, scored 29 points as the Royals defeated Minneapolis North 101-61 win Saturday. The Royals improved to 11-0 with the victory. Coleman is scoring 23.5 points per contest. The Royals face St. Paul Como Park Tuesday. Coleman averaged 24.7 points per game as a junior and helped lead Hopkins to back-to-back Class AAAA titles.
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Charlie Mencel had his jersey number 30 retired at halftime. Mencel was the 1955 Big Ten Most Valuable Player as he averaged 18.6 points and 5.0 rebounds during his senior season in 1955. His 1,391 career points rank ninth in program history.
Mencel was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers in the second round of the 1955 NBA Draft and played two seasons for the hometown club.
