The Gopher basketball team won’t play again until Saturday, December 22 against Santa Clara at Williams Arena. Coach Tubby Smith promised Wednesday night that in the days ahead his team won’t forget its last game, a close call win over a 3-6 South Dakota State team.
The Gophers led 38-37 at halftime Wednesday night. The score was close throughout a game where the teams shared the lead. There was nothing close about the rebounding, though, as the Jackrabbits were 15 boards better than the Gophers.
Smith didn’t like that disparity and some other failings of his team. He did, however, value the 78-72 win and why not? The Gophers, now 7-1, figure to go into the Big Ten Conference season next month at 10-2 or 11-1. A loss to South Dakota State could have been damaging to a possible NCAA tournament invitation in March.
Smith said the Gophers need to be “mentally focused” and must respect the opponent. The Gophers can expect to hear about the Jackrabbits as they prepare for Santa Clara. “Oh, they won’t forget this one,” Smith said. “We would rather learn this lesson with a win, than a loss. …”
Gopher senior forward Dan Coleman, who led the team in scoring with 24 points, said the South Dakota State game will probably “sharpen up practice for the next two weeks.” Senior guard Lawrence McKenzie was asked if the Gophers had too much confidence going into the game. “I think we kind of did,” he said. “When you’re winning and you beat a team by large amounts, it’s easy to get over confident. …”
Minnesota has won three games by 30 points or more this season. Two other wins have been by at least 17 points.