It’s tough for a team to feel good about themselves after losing a game on the road in which they were down 23 points at halftime, but that’s exactly how the Gophers should feel after their 88-81 loss at Indiana on Saturday afternoon.
Because, let’s face it, when the Hoosiers get rolling at home, there aren’t too many teams that are going to be able to slow them down.
That’s precisely what happened in the first half. Indiana got into a rhythm, and there simply wasn’t anything that Minnesota could do. Cody Zeller was off and running in transition. Victor Oladipo was playing like a guy deserving of a spot on an all-america team. Jordy Hulls was hitting threes. Yogi Ferrell was doing his best John Stockton impression. It was a pleasure to watch and a nightmare to play against, and it’s something that is going to happen over and over this season.
Minnesota could have rolled over, the same way that North Carolina did when the Tar Heels were, quite literally, run out of Assembly Hall back in November.
But they didn’t.
In fact, Minnesota came all the way back.
If Trevor Mbakwe didn’t miss a box out with 19 seconds left on a missed free throw by Hulls, the Gophers would have had the ball down three with a chance to tie the game.
Think about that for a minute. Minnesota was on the road, playing against arguably the best team in the country that was in the kind of zone that made them look like unquestionably the most dominant team in the country. Assembly Hall was a wall of sound. The Gophers looked like a group of intimidated high school seniors.
And they still managed to turn the tide for the second 20 minutes, completely outplaying the Hoosiers.
That’s not an easy thing to do.
If Minnesota had a couple more minutes or if they had managed to keep their halftime deficit under 20, they may have actually won this game. And while a loss is a loss at the end of the day, I think Minnesota fans can feel pretty good about the fact that they were able to make a comeback on Indiana on the road.
Because moral victories are really the only thing road teams are going to be getting in Bloomington this season.
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AP
Kansas commit and consensus top high school player Andrew Wiggins decided not to play for the Canadian Under-19 team this summer at next week’s FIBA U19 World Championship in Prague, Czech Republic. That hasn’t stopped the 6-foot-7 Wiggins from impressing this summer. According to Gary Parrish of CBS Sports, sources confirmed that Wiggins participated in his first…
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#POSTERIZED: Aaron Gordon demolishes Nigel Williams-Goss (VIDEO)
Jun 18, 2013, 3:03 PM EDT
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We’ve dissected the position that Aaron Gordon will play at Arizona far too often this offseason. Maybe, instead of worrying about whether he’ll be a three or a four, we should sit back and appreciate the fact that he can do this: I mean … I just … wow. Oh, there’s a better angle, too:…
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This week is a very important week for Ed O’Bannon’s case against the NCAA
Jun 18, 2013, 2:28 PM EDT
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Ever since Ed O’Bannon first filed a lawsuit against the NCAA over the use of his likeness in a video game back in 2009, there has been scuttlebutt that the outcome of said lawsuit could end up playing a major role in the way that college athletics operates at the highest level in the near…
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One of the big names to keep an eye on in the Class of 2015 is one of the biggest players in the class: 6-foot-11 Stephen Zimmerman. A native of Las Vegas who plays his high school ball at Bishop Gorman, Zimmerman is a lanky left-hander that can score with his back to the basket,…
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Florida head coach Billy Donovan made the final cuts to the U19 Team USA team on Monday night, getting the roster down to 12 players. The best known player on the team? Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart, who will likely enter the 2013-2014 season as a preseason first-team All-American. Duke sophomore Rasheed Sulaimon, incoming Arizona freshman…
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Jermaine Marshall has had a change of heart. Last month, Marshall announced that he would be leaving Penn State with the intention of going pro, but he’s had a change of heart. Marshall, who didn’t sign with an agent, will graduate on August 10th and has received a release from the Nittany Lions. He’ll be…
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How badly is Greg Whittington injured? That’s the biggest question facing Georgetown heading into the summer, because at this point, we know that Whittington is dealing with some kind of a knee injury. Late Monday night, Casual Hoya reported that Whittington was hobbling around on crutches. Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com and Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com…
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A broken foot failed to derail C.J. McCollum’s trek to the lottery
Jun 18, 2013, 9:28 AM EDT
AP
Through 12 games in the 2012-13 season, Lehigh senior guard C.J. McCollum had done nothing to dispel the notion that he was one of the nation’s best players. With averages of 23.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game to that point in the season, McCollum was leading the country in scoring and well…
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Former UNC Asheville guard Keith Hornsby transfers to LSU
Jun 17, 2013, 11:01 PM EDT
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Keith Hornsby, the sophomore guard from UNC Asheville, took to Twitter to announce where he will spend his final two years of eligibility. #letsGeaux!!!!!!! – tweeted Hornsby on Monday night The 6-foot-4 sophomore picked LSU almost three weeks after announcing he would be leaving UNC Asheville following the departure of head coach Eddie Biedenbach. Hornsby was…
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Kelly Kline/Under Armour
One of the nation’s top rising seniors Rashad Vaughn has decided to leave Robbinsdale Cooper High (Minn.) in favor of prep school for his final season. Vaughn has been debating about whether or not to leave Cooper for months. “The kid has to move on and do what’s best for him,” Vaughn’s mentor Pete Kaffey told the Pioneer…
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North Carolina guard was arrested on June 5. It’s been almost two full weeks since the incident occurred in Durham, and for the first time since the arrest, Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams spoke about his leading scorer. “We are doing one thing: We are waiting until all the information comes out,” Williams told…
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Florida has already started its incoming class for the fall of 2015. On Monday evening, sophomore center Kevarrius Hayes (Suwannee High/Live Oak, Fla.) committed to Billy Donovan and the Gators. This early commitment was first reported by Evan Daniels of Scout and then later confirmed by coach Martin McCann of Nike Team Florida — Hayes’ AAU team. According…
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Walter McCarty’s 1996 Kentucky national championship rings are being sold on eBay
Jun 17, 2013, 6:50 PM EDT
eBay
The championship rings of former Kentucky Wildcat Walter McCarty are now up for sale on eBay. McCarty, a member of the 1996 National Championship team is having both the ring given to the team by the NCAA and the ring presented to the Wildcats by the University of Kentucky are both being auctioned off with…
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Alabama’s second-leading scorer Trevor Lacey has decided to transfer to North Carolina State, according to PackPride.com. He will have to sit out the 2013-2014 season per NCAA transfer rules. He will have two years of eligibility left. In April, Lacey had elected to leave the Crimson Tide program after two seasons. He was considering Wolf…
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Oliver Purnell, DePaul add Renard Phillips to coaching staff
Jun 17, 2013, 4:30 PM EDT
Renard Phillips began his new job on the DePaul coaching staff today, head coach Oliver Purnell announced through a school statement Monday afternoon. Phillips joins the Blue Demons following a 20-7 season with Friendship Collegiate Academy in Washington, D.C. Phillips had made stops at Arlington Country Day (Fla.), Progressive Christian Academy (Md.) and Georgetown Prep (Md.) in the…
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Report: Missouri fills out coaching staff with former Drake head coach
Jun 17, 2013, 3:00 PM EDT
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Maybe I have an addiction to college hoops that is just a bit too strong, or maybe I just have too much time on my hands to think about these things, but I love backtracking through the coaching carousel and figuring out how once decision sparked a chain reaction of job-hopping. In this story, we’ll…
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The most important skill Michael Carter-Williams learned as a freshman? Work ethic
Jun 17, 2013, 2:25 PM EDT
All things considered, Michael Carter-Williams had a pretty great sophomore campaign as the point guard for the Syracuse Orange. He averaged 11.9 points, 7.3 assists, 4.9 boards and 2.8 steals, which was impressive enough to get him into consideration as a lottery pick for next week’s NBA Draft once you taken into account the potential…
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Report: Jason Gardner to be hired as an assistant at Memphis
Jun 17, 2013, 1:30 PM EDT
Loyola (IL) athletics
Josh Pastner has filled out the remainder of his coaching staff at Memphis with his former college teammate Jason Gardner, according to reports. Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com has the news that Pastner has recommended that the school hire Gardner, which means that barring Memphis digging up some Julie Hermann-ian dirt of the former Arizona all-american,…
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Michigan’s recruiting philosophy, and a fun Mitch McGary anecdote
Jun 17, 2013, 12:00 PM EDT
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One of the best parts about my job is hearing about the little, seemingly random stories from the recruiting trail and how they led one program and one player together. One example? Delaware head coach Monte Ross was looking for a shooter at a tournament. As he was walking past a court to a different…
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Aaron Gordon: ‘Whatever Coach Miller wants me to play, I’ll play it.’
Jun 17, 2013, 10:24 AM EDT
AP
It may only be the middle of June, but I can already freely admit that I spend quite a bit of time every day looking forward to the 2013-2014 college hoops season. The strength of the best rivalries in the country, all the talent that returned to school, all the talent in the 2013 recruiting…
