That's what I'd call a rout: 90-24.
Okay, that's not a real game. The Minnesota Gopher women ran out to an outrageous half-time lead of 60-16 over Ohio on Saturday. And in the final 10 minutes on Sunday, the Gopher men put a 30-8 run on the Richmond Spiders.
What are the odds of that? I mean, not just 2 truly outrageous runs. But 60-16 over 20 minutes, and then exactly half of that, 30-8, in half the time, 10 minutes, the next day on the same floor. We live in strange times, indeed.
The Women
The women coasted to an 85-40 win over the Bobcats, out-scoring them 25-24 in the 2nd half, then won 2 halves against 1-4 Maine 39-3 and 38-29 for a total of 77-60. Funny how 1 half at 60-16 can put a pretty good face on 3 so-so halves.
It helps that Maine was Pam Borton's 200th win at Minnesota. It helps that the Gophers are 4-0. It helps that Katie Loberg came back from injury with 12 points, 5 boards and 2 blocks in just 13 minutes against Ohio. It helps that Shayne Mullaney, who got off to a slow start of her freshman year, broke through with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, with 11 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in 46 minutes in the 2 games.
But of course Rachel Banham and Micaela Riche lead the team in scoring with 20 and 18 ppg, Riche leads with 9 boards and 1.5 blocks, and Banham with 4 assists and 3 steals. They're out-shooting people 48-36 percent, and out-rebounding 'em 45-30, and out-scoring 'em 81-61.
So now the women head to Cancun where they will play Richmond, James Madison and Missouri on Thursday, Friday and Saturday full of optimism. Richmond is 1-3, James Mad is 1-2 with a 21-point loss at Virginia, and Missouri is 3-0. The next chance to see 'em will come a week from Thursday vs. Virginia at 7 p.m. at the Barn. Wow, could they be 7-0? Playin' on the road ain't nothin' like playin' at home...so we'll see. But there's a lot to like about this team.
The Men
The men are also 4-0 and winning by an average of 74-48. But for 30 minutes, previously unbeaten Richmond out-played the Gophers and led by 49-42. It was a 3-man deluge that capsized the Spiders. Andre Hollins started things off with 3 buckets and 2 steals surrounding 2 Austin Hollins FT. Trevor Mbakwe got 3 of the next 4 buckets plus 3 offensive boards and a block. The 3 of them hit 7-of-11 shots with 9 boards.
Austin and Rodney Williams have now overtaken Joe Coleman for the team scoring lead at 14.5. Coleman scored just 10 points in 2 games to drop to 10 ppg. Rodney also leads with 6.5 boards, while Andre has 5 assists per game, Coleman 2.5 steals, and Eliot Eliason 2 blocks.
Better yet, the Gophers are shooting 49 percent and their opponents just 29. They're out-rebounding the opposition 45-31.
And now they, too, head south (in this case, the Bahamas) for 3 games Thursday through Friday. But the competition sounds a tad tougher than what the women are playing, as in Duke, Memphis or VCU, and TBD. I figure we'll be unbeaten until that game with TBD, that one is gonna be a killer.
So no way are Tubby's guys gonna return home undefeated, but there's still a lot to like about this team.
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