It’s a good guess that suspended Gophers forward Royce White will play in his first game for Minnesota within a couple of weeks, and that point guard Al Nolen won’t regain his academic eligibility until next season when he will be a senior.
The Gophers missed Nolen’s defense on All-Big Ten Michigan State point guard Kalin Lucas who scored 22 points on Saturday during his team’s 65-64 win. Spartans coach Tom Izzo said Kalin’s performance was his best of the season, and that MSU was out played for “37 or 38 minutes.”
Devoe Joseph, who went from substitute to starter because of Nolen’s ineligibility, played 36 minutes and scored 16 points, with seven assists. Gophers coach Tubby Smith said Joseph has “great stamina” and is probably in the best physical shape of any Gopher.
At his post game news conference, Smith appeared somewhat discouraged after the last minute loss to the Spartans, the third straight defeat for this team, now 3-4 in the Big Ten and 12-7 overall. A win would have given the Gophers a signature victory over a top 10 team. Instead, the Gophers must now win against Northwestern at home tomorrow night to avoid a disastrous January.
Gophers freshman forward Rodney Williams will be the No. 11 pick of the New Orleans Hornets in 2011, according to https://www.nbadraft.net/2011mock_draft. Ames, Iowa prep star Harrison Barnes, who committed to North Carolina after turning down the Gophers and many other schools, will be the No. 2 pick in the draft, joining the Timberwolves.
Teal Bunbury, a Prior Lake native, was the fourth choice in the first round of Major League Soccer’s draft earlier this month after being selected by Kansas City.