House Report: Gophers grind out a win over Drake behind Jordan Murphy’s 24 points

DanielHouse

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It wasn’t pretty, but a win nonetheless. The Gophers managed to grind out a 68-67 victory over the Drake Bulldogs at Williams Arena. Two late runs were fueled by a dominating performance from Jordan Murphy. Murphy led the way with 24 points and 18 rebounds. Amir Coffey added 16 second half points to fend off a poor first half on both ends. The Gophers have been out of sync throughout the past three games, but managed to squeak out a much-needed win before a ten-day break.

Early in the game, the Gophers were panicking on offense and continued to struggle moving the basketball. Minnesota would get the ball inside and frantically make an out of control move to the basket. Reggie Lynch was extremely impatient and had just three first half points. The Gophers currently have no inside-out action and their guards are struggling to attack. Amir Coffey had zero points in the first half and was losing on the defensive end. Dupree McBrayer had good looks, but missed his first seven shots. Nate Mason, Coffey and McBrayer were scoreless on 0-for-13 shooting at the 3:48 mark of the first half. Mason and Lynch didn’t score a field goal until just inside the three-minute mark. The Gophers were 9-for-30 inside the paint and 2-for-11 from the three-point line in the first half. There was a moment early in the game where Jordan Murphy had four touches, didn’t reach the rim, and turned the ball over twice. He bounced back to score eight straight points and took over the game. Murphy had a 6-foot-2, 190-pound big man matched up with him and he started to make his prerace known. Reggie Lynch was out of control throughout the game and lacks patience around the rim. He will need to settle in to his role down the stretch. Lynch’s defensive effort late in the game was encouraging, but his play needs to become sustainable.

On the defensive end, the team allowed Drake to shoot 12-for-31 from the three-point line. The Gophers have been lazy with their rotations on defense and Drake drilled open jumpers all night. The Bulldogs scored just 24 points in the first half, but took advantage of the open looks. Nate Mason has been losing his man on defense quite often and Amir Coffey has struggled to display active hands. There are lapses in the overall team defense and Reggie Lynch has been lazy in help side defense. Minnesota hasn’t played cohesively on either end of the floor and they lack energy. At times, their body language has been very poor and they just can’t seem to get chemistry going. The ending to the game provided a glimmer of hope. A 6-0 run, including a Nate Mason three-pointer helped the Gophers square things up at 43.

The Gophers finally grabbed a three-point lead following a three-pointer by Dupree McBrayer. McBrayer opened the game shooting 0-for-7, but finally drilled a shot near the eight-minute mark. He may have struggled on the offense end, but McBrayer locked down Reed Timmer on defense. Timmer was averaging 22 points per game and finished with just eight. McBrayer was following him all over the floor and extending out to keep the perimeter locked down. Amir Coffey drilled a three-pointer at the six-minute mark and Gophers claimed their biggest lead of the game. Minnesota’s guards started to attack more, specifically Amir Coffey. Coffey had 16 second half points, including two impressive attacks off the dribble. He has struggled to get going throughout the season and will need to step up in a major way as the season progresses.

Drake narrowed the Gophers lead to 64-62, but an impressive offensive board and putback by Jordan Murphy shifted the momentum one final time. He ducked between three defenders and finished acrobatically. Two blocked shots by Reggie Lynch and beautiful pick-and-roll action to Murphy helped extend the Gophers’ lead. A late turnover and a missed free throw allowed Drake to hit a late three-pointer, but it wasn’t enough as the Gophers squeaked out a 68-67 win.

Minnesota will have a ten-day break before returning to action against Oral Roberts on Dec. 21. They’ll need every minute of it as they attempt to get back on track before Big Ten play continues.

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Good summary. I am not sure what all the complaints are on other posts even when we win. Yes it was an ugly first half but a spirited Gopher second half led by Murph and Coffey. The X factor this year is Coffey. With Murph you know what you will see every night. With Coffey not as much. But is Coffey a talent when he turns it up.
 






Good summary. I am not sure what all the complaints are on other posts even when we win. Yes it was an ugly first half but a spirited Gopher second half led by Murph and Coffey. The X factor this year is Coffey. With Murph you know what you will see every night. With Coffey not as much. But is Coffey a talent when he turns it up.

So we should be happy about beating Drake by 1 point?
 

In regards to the fans booing going into halftime, I couldn't have been more embarrassed by their lack of emotion when we started coming back and then trying to maintain the lead. I was sitting with my fellow Drake grads and watched them out cheer the entire crowd. There were only a couple hundred of us! I was certainly happy to see the Gophers escape with a win, but it's also hard to get the thought of all our fans sitting on their butts and looking asleep. Here's to hoping we can turn it around and get Williams rocking after Christmas break.
 

In regards to the fans booing going into halftime, I couldn't have been more embarrassed by their lack of emotion when we started coming back and then trying to maintain the lead. I was sitting with my fellow Drake grads and watched them out cheer the entire crowd. There were only a couple hundred of us! I was certainly happy to see the Gophers escape with a win, but it's also hard to get the thought of all our fans sitting on their butts and looking asleep. Here's to hoping we can turn it around and get Williams rocking after Christmas break.

Normally I am feel like I am a critic of the crowd at the Barn, but I don't blame them for not getting in to it tonight. The team looked disinterested for long stretches, looked disorganized at best on the offensive end of the court, and couldn't put the game away when they had the chance. Coming off two bad losses (bad in the way they lost to Arkansas, not just the L), it's kind of unbelievable that they'd put such a poor effort together.

I feel great for Drake though. They've seemed pretty hopeless the past couple years and Niko really has quickly made a difference with a win over Wake and two close losses against Colorado and Minnesota. It would be great to see them become a contender in the Valley in a few years.
 



Student section also wasn't into it. The loudest person in the arena was some dude in the band who keep yelling "hey"
 


So we should be happy about beating Drake by 1 point?

And if victory margins have to matter, I would view it as a 4 point win. That last second three could not affect the outcome so it was rendered totally meaningless, (except maybe to a bookie) and very lucky.
 

I don't think it's crazy that many Gopher fans are a little concerned right now. This is the third poor game in a row for a team that many believed could be elite. It's not that they lost at Nebraska and Arkansas. It's how they lost. Every college basketball fan understands just how difficult it can be to win on the road. If the Gophers had played well and still lost both games, there wouldn't be anywhere close to the criticism that we're hearing today. Many college basketball teams go through at least one rough stretch in the season, but the last three games have shown a lack of hustle and drive, lapses in defense (story of the year so far with this team), very dysfunctional offense, poor attitude (especially with Coffee and Washington), and what looks like zero leadership. All teams have games where the shots don't fall. The good teams can still win some of those by playing hard. Other than Murphy, who on the Gophers has played like they REALLY want to win in the last week?

Personally, I'm not at panic mode like many fans right now, but we've seen a very different Gopher team in the last week. Blame it on the tough stretch starting Thanksgiving weekend, the officials, upcoming finals, the bench, or what have you, but it's discouraging to see a veteran team sleepwalk through three consecutive games. I really hope these ten days off gives them the mental break they clearly need.

I'll be optimistic by saying as of right now, they don't have any bad losses (on paper). Miami and Arkansas look like sure-fire NCAA tournament teams, and somehow Nebraska (who held a halftime lead at Creighton a few days ago) has a RPI in the 50's, which obviously could get worse as the season goes on, but it's heck of a lot better than Iowa's 200+ RPI...
 



Can't wait to see the change in tune on this board when we are 15-3, 4-1 in the Big Ten with Purdue coming to the Barn in a month or so. It's a long season people! Not many teams have played the number of true road games the Gophs have. I believe this non-conference season will benefit them more than last year's did. With that being said, someone on the bench must emerge. The starters won't have it every night (and maybe not on consecutive nights), so we need some semblance of depth.
 




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