If the Gophers keep this up, they should be this year’s Purdue. Powered by an aggressive Ralph Sampson III, Minnesota overcame their now traditional second hand swoon to bury the Bison 90-76. Sampson scored all 10 of his points in the second half, many in impressive fashion to help the Gophers maintain an early lead.

Minnesota jumped out to an early lead, thanks to Jamal Abu-Shamala must have thought he was playing Northwestern. Whether he was driving to the basket with authority (no dunks, he still is Jamal, hitting open jumpers, still his bread an butter, or knocking down pull ups in the lane, Abu-Shamala continued to display increased confidence that should keep in high in the rotation even if he doesn’t keep his starting spot once the conference season starts and the injury bug slows. The senior Gopher captain scored 9 of his 20 points in a 14-1 run to start the game. Even though the Bison played competitively for the entire afternoon, the game was essentially over by the first TV time out. When it did look in doubt, as the Bison closed within 10 in the second half, Sampson put the game away. The highly touted freshman scored from everywhere, with low post moves that betrayed his lineage, an amazing put back where he could hardly see the basket, and a high arching 15 foot bank shot that was undefendable. The diversity of his offensive repertoire will be the envy of many other Big Ten centers.

Sampson and Abu-Shamala weren’t the only Gophers who came ready to play as the Gophers played their third consecutive best game of the season. In fact, the basket must have looked as big as a hula hoop to the entire team. The Gophers shot 58% in the first half, and out did themselves in the second half shooting 65%. These were Minnesota’s best and third-best shooting halves of the season. Minnesota’s accuracy wasn’t just limited to the interior either, as they made 8-13 three pointers and shot a respectable 78% from the free throw line.

Defensively, Saturday’s win was a mixed bag. The turnover total was up, as the Bison had 15 turnovers, including 9 steal and 8 blocks for the Gophers, but NDSU still had plenty of open shots, and made many of them.  Mike Nelson was able to score 21 points on 5-10 three pointers, as the Gophers spent most of their time concentrating on Been Woodside. When the Gophers face better teams, with more scoring threats, the Gophers will not be able to get away with 20 points from a tertiary at best scorer.

The Gophers needed to play well to beat North Dakota State, a team known for knocking off Big Ten teams who has had their eye on a win at Williams Arena since they moved to Divsion 1 a few years ago. North Dakota State has 10 players from Minnesota, and more than a few feel jilted that they were passed over by the Gophers. Among those is Senior guard Ben Woodside, who has more than a passing resemblance to Drew Neitzl. Woodside, who was the nation’s leading scorer for much of last season, came into the game with gaudy three point statistics and was his team’s leading scorer. On Saturday he had what for him was a below average game, but it is hard to complain about 16 points including a three pointer from around 35 feet out and 7 assists. The prolific scorer never got his win at The Barn, but he definitely showed that he should not have been passed over in favor of Rico Tucker.

Rebounding was also a mixed bag. Like most Gopher opponents this year, the Bison got more than their fare share of offensive rebounds. Minnesota’s aggressive defense is great, but it continues to come at the expense of rebounding positioning. This should be obvious by now, but we can get way with this now. When Minnesota faces an opponent with size comparable to ours, these offensive rebounds could cost us the game. The Gopher guards continue their prolific rebounding, and Al Nolen once again led the team with 7. Team rebounding is great, and guard rebounding may be a sign that the Gopher interior players are boxing out the other big men allowing the guards to swoop in, but it remains to be seen whether this will continue when the Gophers face other quick guards with a rebounding mindset.

Despite the work that still needs to be done, and alarm bells would be going off if the Gophers peaked before December, the Gophers are still on track to sneak into the NCAA tournament. With continued improvement, the Gophers will continue to be ahead of schedule.

Who did what?

• Jamal Abu-Shamala, if he keeps this up, will be more than just a place-filler when he comes off the bench. He had his best game of the season with 20 points and three rebounds.  I might have been on to something.
• Damian Johnson keeps doing what needs to be done. Yesterday 11 points on 5-6 shooting with 6 assists, three blocks, and 4 steals. If he could improve on anything, it is his rebounding, which has cratered in recent weeks. He had none yesterday 2 rebounds per game for the season. He may be a little tentative when rebounding as a result of his hand injury.
• Colton Iverson got a bit of a break yesterday, scoring only 6 points on 2-3 shooting in 17 minutes.
• Blake Hoffarber was little blah. Nothing great, nothing horrible, but he can’t score 20 every night either. He had 5 points and 4 assists.
• Al Nolen’d offense is still on vacation, scoring only 5 points including 3-6 from the free throw line. Luckily, he still finds a way to contribute. This time he led the team in rebounding with 7 and 4 assists while helping to force Ben Woodside into 5 turnovers.
• Travis Busch hit a nice open jumper and finished with 4 points. He can be a valuable role player, as long as he doesn’t try to do more than fill his role.
• Ralph Sampson did it all, and he did it all while only committing one turnover and one foul. Fouls will be his worst enemy, and the longer he stays on the court the better.
• Devron Bostick was solid, albeit in limited action with 5 points and 2 rebounds. The statistics don’t show how much more comfortable he looks. He no longer cringes the second the ball leaves his hand.
• Lawrence Westbrook is back in a big way, scoring 17 off the bench. With Abu-Shamala’s strong start to the season, Tubby Smith is in the enviable position of using Westbrook in an instant offense role. Could Westbrook be the next Townsend Orr?
• Devoe Joseph hit another three, and finished with 5 points.
• Kevin Payton averaged a rebound a minute, though he only played 1 minute.
• Spencer Tollackson, moon lighting as an announcer for the Big Ten Network, criticized Ralph Sampson III’s athleticism. Um, yeah.

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. North Dakota State Bison

1:00 pm (CST) at Williams Arena

Radio: WCCO 830 AM

Tv: Big Ten Network

Tickets: Row 26 behind the basket in the lower deck

Liveblog: Not this time. I’ll be at a wedding.

A few years back the Gophers decided to make a conscious effort to play “local” Division I teams. In some states this would have created rivalries, or at the very least some intriguing match-ups against well established mid-major programs. For the Gophers, it means playing teams from the Dakotas

North Dakota State comes into today’s game with some significant struggles. They beat Northern Arizona on the road, but lost at Idaho, who lost to the same Eastern Washington team that the Gophers destroyed on Wednesday. One must always be careful trying to glean great truths when comparing common opponents, but at this stage in the season there isn’t much else to go on.

The Bison play the fastest game of any Gopher opponent so far this season, averaging roughly 74 possessions per game. The Gophers have picked up the pace in recent wins over Colorado State and Eastern Washington, but they are still a full 9 possessions per game slower. Unlike most of the teams the Gophers have faced, North Dakota state makes the most out of these possessions scoring 107 points per 100 possessions. They do this, unsurprisingly, by making their shots, and they rank  90th in the country in three point field goal percentage (slightly worse than the Gophers) and 24th in two point accuracy. However, as would be expected for a team that has lost to Eastern Washington, they can give up plenty of points too, ranking close to 300th in the country in terms of field goal percentage allowed and points given up per 100 possession. They also give the ball away, which certainly does now help their defense, turning the ball over on 1 out of every 4 possessions.

Keys for the Gophers

1. Press early and often. North Dakota State gives the ball away even when they aren’t pressured.
2. Dump the ball inside. Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson dominated Eastern Washington. The Gophers need to make sure this was not a fluke
3. Make free throws. This game, for whatever reason, could be more competitive than it looks on paper, and missed free throws are the easiest way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Keys for the Bison

1. Hang on to the ball. Minnesota thrives on turnovers. The Bison like to commit turnovers. If they give the ball away they are giving away the game.
2. Limit the Gopher runs, and get one of their own. Their should be a sizable Bison presense in The Barn, especially with all the Christmas shopping opportunities within half an hour drive of today’s game. Their fans could be a factor.
3. Make the Gophers work on offense. Its been said before, but the Gophers are still a work in progress on the offensive end.

Key Players for the Gophers

1. Colton Iverson dismantled the short Eastern Washington interior defense. North Dakota State is even shorter.
2. Ralph Sampson has looked much better on both ends. Today should be another confidence builder.
3. Speaking of confidence, Devron Bostick played his best game of the season on Wednesday, and should have plenty of minutes to show for it today.

Key Players for the Bison

1. Ben Woodside is one of the few players the Gophers will face this season who can single-handedly keep his team in the game. He shoots an outstanding 58% from behind the three point line. If he gets going, anything can happen.
2. Brett Winkelman is the Bison’s other legitimate offensive threat, averaging 17 points per game. He can score both inside and outside.
3. Lucas Moormann doesn’t get a lot of minutes, but at 6′10” he may be called on to go after the Gophers twin towers.

Prediction: Even though it doesn’t seem warrented, this game looks like trouble, especially with the potential of Woodsidepalooza in The Barn. However, despite what could be some ridiculous numbers from the Bison sharpshooter, the Gophers should still win 78-73.

Your Prediction:

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I had originally hoped to include several Watership Down references in this column. This novel of course tells the story of a dystopian rabbit society overcome by infighting and a totalitarian government. Note to all those with children or thinking of having children, even though rabbits are cute and the movie version of this is a cartoon, don’t let your five year old watch it, or they may be writing about it on a basketball blog a couple of decades later.

By now you of course know that Jackrabbits of South Dakota State didn’t implode, and gave the Gophers their first real scare at home this year. Against SDSU, the Gophers were caught in a time warp, or maybe the ghost of Dan Monson was haunting The Barn. The Gophers struggled in the half court offense, occasionally on defense, and especially on rebounding.

As Gopher Nation pointed out, the Jackrabbits got offensive rebounds on more than half their shots. Offensive rebounds and turnovers have allowed the Gophers to either hang around a lot longer than they should have (Florida State) or coast to wins (everyone but SDSU). It was the opposite story last night as South Dakota State shot the ball 13 more times than the Gophers. Despite being the bigger and more athletic team, the Gophers gave up 19 offensive rebounds (compared to the Gophers 8). Dan Coleman, who continues his hot shooting, still refuses to crash the offensive glass, and Spencer Tollackson is still having problems getting into position and off the floor. Three of SDSU’s players had more rebounds than Damian Johnson, the leading Gopher rebounder.

On paper the Gopher offense had a very good night. As a team they shot 56% from the field and 50% from behind the three point line. Their 10 three point attempts were a season low, which hopefully means that the Gophers are finally getting away from their nasty habit of throwing up three pointers instead of running the offense. However, at times last night a hasty three point shot would have at least been less painful to watch than the Gopher half court offense. The offensive stagnation didn’t last as long as it did last year, and obviously didn’t cost the Gophers the game, but it did serve as a reminder that if the Gophers are capable of playing as well as they have this year, they are also capable of playing badly as they did last year. For the second game in a row Lawrence McKenzie played more point guard than shooting guard, which limits his ability to create his own shots. As he adjusts to this new role, the Gophers will inevitably benefit, but right now we may all have to deal with some Dan Coleman-like growing pains.

From the opening tip it was evident that the Gophers could score on the inside whenever they wanted, and that SDSU could score whenever they wanted against the Gopher press. Tubby Smith may have been trying to blow them out of the gym from the opening tip, but as has occasionally been the case this season, a disciplined team can score rather easily by splitting the press up the middle or via long outlet passes. The Jackrabbits did both. Unfortunately, the Gophers kept pressing, and the results remained the same. If they had played more straight up man to man, there would have been fewer easy points and hopefully better rebounding. Instead Garret Callahan, an SDSU guard, ran wild besting his season high point total by 9 and finishing with 28. When the press was working it was adequate, and the half court defense did eventually shut down SDSU, but for most of the game, the wrong defense was played at the wrong time.

The Gophers were bound to have a game like this, and considering finals are about to start and the next game isn’t for a week and a half, the timing shouldn’t be too surprising. It is ok for fans to be overconfident and to look past opponents, but as the Gophers learned (almost the hard way), you can’t look past anyone. The season is still young and the Gophers still have a lot to learn and unlearn, but a win is a win, and this is a win that would not have happened last year.

And to all you rabid Jackrabbit fans, the Gophers played their worst game of the season, SDSU played its best game of the season, and the Gophers still won.

Highlights from the Big Ten Network

Who did what:

• Dan Coleman dunked with authority (who knew?) a couple of times, was aggressive on the offensive end, and played another great game. He continues to take the ball to the basket and avoid fading jump shots, which only improves his shooting percentage (10-14 last night).
• Jamal Abu-Shamala had another typical JAS game, five points including a three and lots of zeros in the box score. Tubby did play JAS and Blake Hoffarber together last night, which we may see more of if opponents need a zone to stop Tollackson and Coleman.
• Spencer Tollackson had 14 points on 4-5 shooting and 6-7 from the free throw line. With a performance like that, he needs the ball more. The Gophers will need to do a better job noticing obvious mismatches, assuming there will be such a thing in a few weeks.
• Lawrence Westbrook made the only shot he took, and has become something of an enigma. He gets his minutes, but for whatever reason he can’t seem to impact the game. Tubby might not know what to do with the undersized shooting guard.
• Lawrence McKenzie appears to still be struggling with what can now be described as a nagging groin injury. He appeared to be limping as he left the game late in the second half. This may account for his poor shooting, or may not be shooting enough to get warmed up. He was only 2-6 7 points, but had an impressive 6 assists with only 1 turnover.
• Jonathan Williams can’t make layups.
• Blake Hoffarber continues to shoot confidently, forcing the opposing defense to shy away from double teaming the Gopher big men. While last night was nothing compared to Saturday’s explosion, his 9 points and 6 assists were more than adequate. Its hard to believe this is the same kid that looked so lost the first few games of the season.
• Kevin Peyton made an impressive lay up and was fouled after a steal. He of course missed the free throw and didn’t do anything else.
• Al Nolen was the only Gopher who could slow down Callahan. Like he did against Iowa State, he sealed the win with clutch free throw shooting. Will he have any “freshman moments”?
• Damian Johnson has gone from everything but offense to everything and a bit of offense. His points still come from his athleticism, but for a player who looked to be lost in the Dan Monson wasteland, 3-5 shooting, 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks have become the norm.
• The Barnyard stepped up in a big way. Their end of The Barn was more full than it has been all year, and were especially loud during the last few minutes of the game. They also achieved a minor miracle by getting the rest of the arena to not only realize that a basketball game was taking place, but to actually stand up and make some noise.
• The non-barnyard hasn’t realized that the Gophers are worth cheering. For the first time in the hundreds of games that I have watched, the student section had to compel the non-students to make stand up and cheer when the game was on the line. Did all the older fans that I remember from when I was a kid get rid of their tickets, or did they get too old?

At one point in time, and maybe still, South Dakota State needed to worry about more than just beating their instate rivals Augustana and the University of South Dakota. They also had worry about dodging dead jackrabbits that were hurled on to the court. It seems that with miles of open road, an out of control jackrabbit population, and the sheer boredom that every South Dakotan faces, especially college students, some enterprising young people would scour the country side for road kill, sneak their collection into the arena, and throw them on the court. Nothing says rivalry like festering rodents!

SDSU doesn’t need to worry about that tonight, but it would be reasonable to throw cupcakes at the bench. They are 3-5 and have played some terrible competition. They have gotten blown out by Oral Roberts, and lost to something called Centenary and UWs-Green Bay and Milwaukee. They did however beat Northern Iowa, who beat ISU by a wider margin than the Gophers. According to some mathematical formulas, this means that the Gophers should be in trouble.

Don’t bet on it. Gophers by at least 25. When the Gophers play some real competition I might bother with a real preview.

Unfortunately, due to a myriad of circumstance including furniture, bad weather, shoveling out parked cars, and an office holiday party involving a fake Santa Claus with an Irish accent asking people to sit on his lap while making speculum jokes, I don’t have time to preview what should be a fun game against NDSU. Thankfully, the other Gopher bloggers are up to the challenge. I’ll be back with a review and hopefully a few North Dakota jokes.

While I never liked Dan Monson when he coached the Gophers, his decision to schedule in state teams for exhibition games and smaller border schools in November and December was wonderful. Its great to have what may be the beginning of a few new rivalries.