The Big Game November 2011

November 2011

Game of the Month: Augsburg men 74 Houston Baptist 68, November 5, in a rare D3 over D1 upset


Runners-up: White Bear Lake girls 74 DeLaSalle 69
Minnesota Gopher women 68 Arkansas 60 in a game that gives hope
St. Thomas men 94 Concordia (St. Paul) 88 in Johnny Tauer's 1st official game on Minnesota soil
Dayton 86 Minnesota Gopher men 70 in Trevor Mbakwe's last game.
Augsburg women 61 St. Ben's 50 at St. Joe, Mike Durbin's 1st loss ever to the Augies


Player of the Month: Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota Gopher men. Lived up to expectations only to fall to a torn ACL in the month's penultimate game. 


Runners-up: Rachel Banham, Minnesota Gopher women
Clayton Vette, Winona State men
Angie Jetvig, Moorhead State women
Austin Hollins, Minnesota Gopher men


Kiara Buford, Minnesota Gopher women
Julian Welch, Minnesota Gopher men
Katie Loberg, Minnesota Gopher women
Jake Hottenstine, UMD men
Kenny and Peter Olafeso, Concordia (St. Paul) men


Bobby Fong, St. Olaf men
Tyler Schmidt, Augsburg men
Andre Hollins, Minnesota Gopher men
Shannon Thompson, Bemidji State women
Tessa Cichy, Hill-Murray girls


Team of the Month: Hopkins girls: Totally awesome, they will not be beaten.


Runners-up: St. Ben's
White Bear Lake girls
Winona State men
Winona State women
St. Thomas men
Minnesota Gopher men
Minnesota Gopher women
Augsburg men
Concordia (St. Paul) men


Coach of the Month: Bill McKee, Augsburg women


Runners-up: Jeremy Post, White Bear Lake girls
Brian Cosgriff, Hopkins girls
Aaron Greiss, Augsburg men
Kelly Boe, Concordia (St. Paul) sophomore
Scott Ballard, Winona State women
Mike Leaf, Winona State men
Dan Kosmoski, St. Olaf men
Johnny Tauer, St. Thomas men
Mike Durbin, St. Ben's


Results: Daily Game, Player and Coach of the Day

Wednesday 11-30--Minnesota Gopher men 58 Virginia Tech 55. The first game without being unbeaten and the first test without Trevor Mbakwe, and the Gophers passed with flying colors. I mean, yes, it was close, but Minnesota pulled away from a 53-51 deficit at 8:49. Julian Welch and Rodney Williams scored the Gophers final 7 points, and Tech did not score from 8:49 until 0:23. Player of the Day: Julian Welch, Minnesota Gopher men. The newly starting point guard scored 15 points with 4 assists and 2 steals. Coach of the Day: Bill McKee, Augsburg women. You'll be happy to know that the turnaround at Augsburg is complete. The Augies, dead last in the MIAC last year at 4-18 and picked for last again this year in the pre-season coach's poll, shocked perennial power St. Ben's 61-50 last night at St. Joe. St. Ben's was 16-6 in the MIAC last year, good for 3rd place, and was picked to finish 3rd again this year. It was the 1st loss to Augsburg in Bennie's coach Mike Durbin's 26 year career as Blazers' coach. 


Tuesday 11-29--Wayzata girls 75 Bloomington Kennedy 67 (OT). #7 over #2. Wayzata led the whole way. Kennedy caught up on a 3 at the buzzer but then could not score in OT. Player of the Day: Tessa Cichy, Hill-Murray girls 26 points in 72-60 win over arch-rival Totino-Grace. Coach of the Day: Kent Hamre, St. Michael Albertville girls, 56-45 upset winners at Sartell-St. Stephen behind Christine Thorn's 17 points.


Monday 11-28--St. Benedict's 97 Crown 37. The un-rebuilding continues for the 3-0 Blazers, who have now out-scored their opponents by an average of 90-42. Player of the Day: Jamie Wollin scored just 4 points, but added 8 boards and 5 steals. 19 Bennies played, 16 of them scored, so nobody scored more than Brianna Barrett's 14. Coach of the Day: Mike Durbin, St. Ben's

Sunday 11-27--Dayton men 86 Minnesota Gophers 70. The Gophers 1st loss was a doozy. Minnesota led by as many as 11, but Dayton closed the 1st half on an 18-2 run and the Gophers never got closer than 9. Minnesota had 9 more turnovers and Dayton had 5 more 3s. Trevor Mbakwe left the game with an apparent leg injury with 17 minutes to go, and did not return. Player of the Day: Austin Hollins, Gopher men 14 points. Coach of the Day: Nelson Whitmore, Hamline men, despite an 87-76 loss to UW-Whitewater.

Saturday 11-26--Minnesota Gopher women 65 Virginia Tech 64. A Banham jumper brought the Gophers back from the brink. It was a game of runs: Tech led 16-9, but Minnesota went on a 25-6 run to lead 34-22. By half-time Tech was back within 38-34, and soon led 42-38. It was 58-51 Tech at 8:05,  and 61-57 Tech around the 2 minute mark. But Minnesota closed it out on an 8-3 (and/or 14-6) run. Player of the Day: Katie Loberg, Minnesota Gopher women with a team-high 20 pts and 7 boards. Coach of the Day: Johnny Tauer, St. Thomas men, won his 1st official game on Minnesota soil and in dramatic fashion, stunning host, D2 Concordia (St. Paul), 94-88.

Friday 11-25--Minnesota Gopher men 76 Indiana State 69. The Gophers again trailed in the 2nd half, this time by 58-49, but Julian Welch and Chip Armelin scored key points down the stretch. An unlikely 8-of-15 3s (4-of-5 by Andre Hollins) also was key and, for the 1st time this year, you could say the Gophers perimeter play was the difference. Trevor Mbakwe was held to just 9 points. Player of the Day: Julian Welch, Gopher men, just keeps playing better and better. He led all scorers with 17 points and added 6 boards off the bench. Coach of the Day: Jeremy Post, White Bear Lake girls. The #6AAAA Bears shocked #1AAA DeLaSalle 74-69 at the Hamline Thanksgiving Tournament.

Thursday 11-24--Minnesota Gopher men 86 DePaul 85. The Gophers rallied from a 49-37 deficit at 18:19 of the 2nd half, out-scoring the Demons 35-22 over the next 10 minutes. 21 of the 35 points came off the bench, Julian Welch leading the way with 9 as Rodney Williams added 6. They executed poorly down the stretch, however, almost squandering an 83-79 lead but a put-back by Rodney and a charge taken by Trevor Mbakwe, both inside of 13 seconds, were the difference. Player of the Day: Mbakwe scored 16 with 12 boards and 2 steals, plus the big charge call. Coach of the Day: Tubby Smith, Minnesota Gopher men

Wednesday 11-23--Carleton men 69 Elmhurst (IL) 67. Caleb Rosenow hit the game-winner with 2.3 seconds remaining. Player of the Day: Danny Geiger, Carleton men 12 points 7 assists. Coach of the Day: Guy Kalland, Carleton men.

Tuesday 11-22--Wisconsin men 77 University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) men 31. The Badgers really took the Kangaroos to the woodshed. I don't usually highlight a game that doesn't feature at least 1 Minnesota team. But I couldn't resist this match-up of Wisconsin (and former Benilde) all-America point guard, senior Jordan Taylor vs. UMKC (and former St. Paul Johnson) point guard, freshman Estan Tyler. As you can imagine from the team score, Taylor also got the best of the individual match-up: Taylor 9 pts, 6 reb, 6 asts, a steal, a turnover. Tyler failed to score with 4 boards, an ast, a steal and no turnovers. Players of the Day: Kenny and Peter Olafeso, Concordia (St. Paul), 37 pts, 17 reb, 5 asts between them in a 78-68 win over Waldorf College. Coach of the Day: Kelly Boe, Concordia, has assembled a lot of parts.

Monday 11-21--Minnesota Gopher men 85 Mt. St. Mary 56. Finally, a good old-fashioned butt-whipping. Austin Hollins opened things with a rare 3 + 1 and the rout was on. Minnesota took leads of 11-0, 25-4, 35-8 and 51-18 at the half. Andre Hollins opened the 2nd half with another 3 and it was 54-18. The biggest lead was 62-23 and 74-35 but the Mountaineers made up 10 points before the end. Player of the Day: Austin Hollins led the Gophers with 14 points and 6 assists. Coach of the Day: Jeff Oseth, UM-Crookston, who opened with a 93-51 rout of Northland (WI).

Sunday 11-20--Minnesota Gopher women 80 North Dakota State 41. Trailing 10-9 at 13:27, The Gophers ripped off 21 consecutive points, 7 of them by Leah Cotton, to take charge. NDSU committed 26 turnovers including 19 Gopher steals, but had a remarkable 12 assists on 13 buckets. Minnesota scored 31 buckets but registered only 10 assists. Player of the Game: Kiara Buford scored 11 points and led the way with 6 steals. 9 of the points and 4 of the steals came in the 1st half. Coach of the Day: Pam Borton, Minnesota Gopher women.

Saturday 11-19--Minnesota Gopher women (Subway Classic) 65 Binghampton 40 in the Subwau Classic. The Gophers stormed back from early deficits of 7-1, 11-4 and 14-9, taking at 20-19 a lead they would never relinquish. Jackie Voigt sparked the rally off the bench, scoring two quick put-backs to giving the Gophers their first lead since 1-0. By half-time the run was up to 26-8 and the half-time score 35-22. Bing got within 9 in the 2nd, but then it ballooned to 20 at 56-36. Points in the paint were 40-12 Gophers. Player of the Day: Kenny and Peter Olafeso, Concordia (St. Paul) men, combined for 39 points and 9 assists, and Peter added 6 steals, in a 99-79 win over Sious Falls. Coach of the Day: Mike Durbin, St. Ben's. For the 2nd night in a row, the Bennies absolutely manhandled their opponent; this time, it was 95-46 over St. Scholastica.

Friday 11-18--St. Cloud State men 67 St. John's 58. The Huskies led by as much as 22 at 39-17, but then went 11 minutes without a FG. The Johnnies got within 41-27 at the half and 43-35 at 13:07, but St. Cloud stopped the bleeding in time. Player of the Day: Clayton Vette, Winona State men, scored 24 points with 9 boards and 4 assists as the Warriors stormed away from a 33-all half-time tie with a 24-5 run. The final was 89-57. Coach of the Day: Mike Durbin, St. Ben's women. The Bennies, with very little back from last year, hammered UMAC favorite UM-Morris 78-43. Rebuilding or re-loading? Whatever it is, it's working.

Thursday 11-17--Minnesota Gopher men 67 Fairfield 57. Minnesota out-scored the Stags 9-1 over the final 4:14 of the 1st half and never trailed again. Player(s) of the Day: Trevor Mbakwe fell 1 FT short of the Gophers' all-time single game record (17 by Larry Mikan), making 16-of-18. Coach of the Day: Tubby Smith, Gopher men.

Wednesday 11-16--Wisconsin-Stevens Point women 70 St. Thomas 53. The MIAC favorites got bounced hard at the #10-rated Pointers. The Tommies led 35-34 early in the 2nd half but Point then put a 12-1 run on 'em. St. Thomas came back to within 46-40 but after 51-42 the Tommies were never within 10. Player of the Day: Maggie Weiers, St. Thomas sophomore post 13 points 3 assists but 4 turnovers. Coach of the Day: Ruth Sinn, St. Thomas women, was the only Minnesota coach in action tonight.

Tuesday 11-15--The Hamline men and women swept Northwestern (Roseville) at Hamline. The Hamline women won 69-59, while the Hamline men won 64-61. Je'Naya Brown and Jordan Sammons scored 18 points apiece to lead the women, while Mike Campbell scored 14 to lead the men. Player of the Day: Angie Jetvig, Minnesota State-Moorhead, picked up where she left off last year, getting 21 points and 15 rebounds in a 66-41 win over Valley City State. Coach of the Day: Dan Kosmoski, St. Olaf. A day after being picked for the #2 spot by MIAC coaches, Kosmoski and his Oles justified that rating, beating Bethany Lutheran 71-50 playing with Bobby Fong.

Monday 11-14--Minnesota Gopher men 71 South Dakota State 55. For the 4th straight game, the Gophers pulled away from a close one in the waning moments. Trailing 44-39, Minnesota put an 18-1 run on the Jackrabbits. Maverick Ahanmisi sparked the rally with a 3, a steal, an assist and a pair of throws. Player of the Day: Nate Wolters, South Dakota State (and St. Cloud Tech) was the best player on the floor. Coach of the Day: Tubby Smith, Minnesota Gopher men, got a lot of mileage out of bench players Ahanmisi, Chip Armellin, Andre Ingram and other

Sunday 11-13--South Florida women 60 Gopher women 52. It wasn't that close. The Gophers shot 27 percent and had a 13-0 run down the stretch to get within 8. Player of the Day: Forward Connor O'Brien, Minnesota State-Mankato men 15 points, 15 rebounds, as the Mavericks beat Dickinson State 70-55 in its official season debut. Coach of the Day: Matt Marganthaler, Minnesota State-Mankato men, who won their 8th straight opener.

Saturday 11-12--Florida State women 68 Minnesota Gopher 56. The Gophers took it on the chin from the #13/#14 rated team in the nation. Player of the Day: Jake Hottenstine, UMD, 37 points and 13 boards in 81-80 win at Michigan Tech. Coach of the Day: Paul Fessler, Concordia (St. Paul ) women who defeated UC-Colorado Springs 65-56.

Friday 11-11--Minnesota Gopher women 68 Arkansas 60. An impressive neutral court win over a BCS foe. The Gophers pulled away from a 42-all tie in the 2nd half. Player of the Day: Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota men 17 points 10 boards; Rachel Banham, Minnesota women 15 points and 4 assists. Coach of the Day: Pam Borton, Gopher women.

Thursday 11-10--Hamline men 79 Minnesota-Crookston 63. This time it's D3 over D2. 16-for-33 3-point shooting can be a great equalizer. Player of the Day: John Pannell and Brandon Rieg, Hamline men, hit 7-of-10 and 5-of-8 3s, respectively. Ridiculous. Coach of the Day: Nelson Whitmore, Hamline men.

Wednesday 11-9--Concordia (St. Paul) men 115 St. Mary's 75. A good D2 team in a rout over a struggling D3 program as veterans Kenny Olafeso (23 points), Isaiah Thomas (12 and 12 boards) and Brent Barz (10) are joined in double figures by transfer Zach Towle (Concordia Academy, NW Nebraska CC, 15) and newcomers Terez Van Pelt (Osseo, 22 and 6 assists) and Cole Olstad (Plainview-EM, 18). Player of the Day: Van Pelt, the freshman and starting point guard. Coach of the Day: Kelly Boe, Concordia, may finally have the Bears on the upswing. The 2 freshmen, in particular, promise great things at Gangelhoff Arena.

Tuesday 11-8--SW Minnesota State men 78 St.Olaf 67. The Oles are expected to contend in the MIAC while the Mustangs are picked for 8th in the NSIC. But they're D2 and at home, and so SW State rolled to a 22-point lead at 73-50 before relaxing at the end. Player of the Day: Bobby Fong and Stu Neville, St. Olaf seniors, 17 and 16 points, respectively. Coach of the Day: Brad Bigler, SW State men.

Monday 11-7--Minnesota Gopher men 72 Augustana 60. It was 38-33 Augie at the half, and 63-60 with 3 minutes to go. Player of the Day: Trevor Mbakwe saved the Gophers' bacon with 22 points, 13 boards and 6 blocks. Coach of the Day: Tubby Smith, Gopher men. Yeah, the Gophers struggled but the upside among Gopher guards Andre and Austin Hollins, Julian Welch and Joe Coleman is mucho.

Sunday 11-6--Minnesota women 92 Bemidji State 50. Another rout for the Gopher women, which is just the way it should be against D2 opposition. Still, the Rachel Banham era is off to an impressive start. Player of the Day: Rachel Banham, Gopher women, scored 17 points with 6 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals. Coach of the Day: Scott Ballard, Winona State women who gave Iowa a scare, leading 23-19 at the half before losing 65-51.

Saturday 11-5--Augsburg pulled off an almost unheard-of upset, D3 over D1, 74-68 over Houstin Baptist in Houston. Player of the Day: Tyler Schmidt, Augsburg men, led the with 21 points including 8-for-8 from the FT line. Coach of the Day: Aaron Griess, Augsburg men.

Thursday 11-3--South Dakota State women 76 Southwest Minnesota State 50. SDSU moves to 2-0 in the NSIC after beating Moorhead State 86-52 last week. Player of the Day: Shannon Thompson, Bemidji State, contributed 14 points, 9 assists and 7 steals as the Beavers demolished Lakehead (Ont.) 97-61 in an exhibition.  Coach of the Day: Allison Kruger, SMSU women, took the Mustangs into the Jackrabbits den and played better than the Dragons.

Wednesday 11-2--Minnesota Gopher women 86 St. Cloud State 51. A better start than the men. Not only is it a new year, it is the Rachel Banham Era. Player of the Day: Rachel Banham, Gopher women 11 pts, 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 2 boards. Coach of the Day: Mike Leaf, Winona State men. The Johnny Tauer era at St. Thomas got off to a rocky start in a 84-52 loss at Winona, as Clayton Vette of the Warriors outscored the Tommies' Tommy Hannon 17-10 inside.

Tuesday 11-1--Minnesota Gopher men 71 Bemidji State 58. I said that anything short of a rout would be bad new for Tubby and the Gophers. Well, 71-58 is not a rout, and getting out-scored 30-3 from 3-point range is not good. A 45-23 edge in rebounding and a 56-24 edge in 2-point baskets are good. But is that a winning formula that you can execute in the Big 10? Player of the Day: Trevor Mbakwe, Gopher men 17 pts, 10 boards. Coach of the Day: Matt Bowen, Bemidji State men. Had his team ready to play the Gophers.