MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Elliott Eliason had 11 points, 11
rebounds and a career-high seven blocks to lead Minnesota to an easy 79-57
victory over Wofford on Thursday.
Austin Hollins led the Gophers (5-0) with 18 points, and he
grabbed eight rebounds, too. Oto Osenieks had a career-high 14 points, and
Deandre Mathieu added 10 points. Making well-timed cuts and drives to the
basket, the Gophers were as crisp on offense as they've been all season with
give-and-go passes working to near-perfection.
Minnesota had 20 assists on 30 baskets and just eight
turnovers.
Lee Skinner led the Terriers (1-3) with 18 points and seven
rebounds, and Spencer Collins and Eric Garcia each added 10 points.
This was a good way for the Gophers to build some momentum
for the Maui Invitational next week, with a game against ninth-ranked Syracuse
set for Monday. They will face either Arkansas or California after that, and
No. 20 Baylor and No. 13 Gonzaga are in the other half of the eight-team
bracket.
After failing to put away Coastal Carolina and revealing
some defensive vulnerability during an 82-72 victory two nights ago, the
Gophers brought another low-major opponent into "The Barn" and this
time snapped back with a commanding performance. They scored the first 13
points of the game, built a 24-2 lead and never let the Terriers come any
closer than 17 points after that.
The Gophers moved the ball around so much that Andre
Hollins, the Big Ten's leading scorer entering the night, only took two shots
in the first half. He made them count: swishing a 3-pointer in the opening
minutes and a turnaround jumper from the top of the key right before the buzzer
sounded.
Hollins finished with seven points and four assists.
Osenieks has been one of the early success stories for the
Gophers in the transition in coaches from Tubby Smith to Richard Pitino. The
lanky 6-foot-8 junior, a native of Latvia, was buried on the bench last season
and shot just 29.7 percent from the floor, including 2 for 26 from 3-point
range. He rarely looked confident with the ball in his hands.
Now, moved up to power forward on a team thin in the
frontcourt, Osenieks has rediscovered his outside shooting touch, been unafraid
to drive to the basket and become one of the team's best rebounders with his
opportunity to be a starter. His backup, Joey King, sat out of this game
because of a broken jaw, so Osenieks was pressed into even more playing time.
He picked up his third foul less than 16 minutes into the game, though, and
Malik Smith took his spot in the lineup to start the second half.
Eliason has been getting a workout in, too, with reserve Mo
Walker suspended. He'll sit out one more game for an unspecified violation of
university policy. With Wofford's tallest starter, Skinner, at 6-foot-6,
Eliason's long arms and quick anticipation did a lot of damage. He went 5 for 8
from the field and was a bigger force on defense.
The Terriers have built a competitive program under coach Mike
Young, who's in his 12th season at the Spartanburg, S.C., school.
Behind Noah Dahlman, a native of tiny Braham, Minn., they
made the NCAA tournament in 2010 and 2011. The Terriers fell to 19-14 and 13-19
the last two years, but they brought back all five starters this season. They
were picked to finish fifth and sixth in the media and coaches' preseason polls
for the 11-team Southern Conference.
Sophomore C.J. Neumann had six points for the Terriers,
playing in his hometown. He was a 1,000-point scorer at Cretin-Derham High
School in nearby St. Paul.
