Monday, November 19, 2018

Nov. 18--Gopher men dodge a bullet, defeat Texas A&M 69-64

The Gopher men ran out to a 21-7 lead over Texas A&M Sunday night in Vancouver, only to squander that lead and more, before coming back with a stellar final 4 minutes. The Gophers trailed the Aggies 60-57 with 5 minutes remaining, meaning that they had been outscored 50-39 over the previous 27 minutes.

Then at 4:20 Dupree McBrayer missed a layup, but Daniel Oturu grabbed the offensive board and put it back in to bring the Gophers within 1. 46 seconds later, after an Aggie turnover, Jordan Murphy missed a layup but got his own rebound, got fouled and made a pair of throws for a 61-60 Gopher lead.

A&M went up 62-61 and 64-63 but at 1:54 Murphy grabbed another offensive board of a 3 by Gabe Kalscheur. He again got fouled and made 1 of 2 to tie it up. Amir Coffey then made the play of the game with a steal, drawing the foul and converting a pair of throws. Then at 35 seconds, it was Kalscheur who got the steal. He missed a layup but Coffey grabbed the board, drew the foul and made a pair of throws for the final margin.

So, after a pretty lackadaisical performance for 27 minutes, the Gophers put together the following 5 minutes of near-perfection: Well, OK, they made just 1-of-6 FG but they rebounded 4 of the 5 misses and scored every time. Then there were 2 steals good for another 4 points. Meanwhile A&M went 0-for-7 from the field with 3 turnovers. The Gophers finished on a 12-4 run.

Player of the Day: Jordan Murphy 14-7-2-2
Team of the Day: Minnesota Gopher men
Coach of the Day: Richard Pitino

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