Gopher > Cyclone

A year ago the Dan Monson led gophers were "Cycloned" at home and never recovered. Two days later they headed to the Old Spice Classic (traditionally tough, I know) and lost 3 in a row. Marist, Southern Illinois and Montana weren't as bad as it seemed at the time (NIT, NCAA and 17 win teams respectively), but it was enough for Monson to get fired resign. I look back at the Iowa State loss as the demoralizing defeat that, like I said, "cycloned" us.

Anyway, the Tubby Smith led gophers "avenged" last year's home loss with a solid road win over the Big 12 Cyclones.

68-58 - WoooHoooo

This isn't a "great" win, but it is a very good win.

WHAT I LIKED

Spencer Tollackson - 21 points, 6 rebounds (4 offensive) - even with a bit of foul trouble

Lawrence McKenzie - 20 points, 7 reb and only 1 turnover - plenty of points but a couple of really bad shot attempts in the last few min that let ISU back into it, Tubby still has work to do here.

Rebounding and turnovers - +12 in rebounds including 16 offensive. Forced ISU into 13 turnovers to our 10.

Damien Johnson - another solid performance off the bench with only 4 points but 7 rebound (4 offensive) and 2 blocks. If we get this out of him all season that will help us a lot.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE


Dan Coleman - I thought his matchup (pictured right) with the talented freshman, Brackins, was one of the keys to the game. Coleman didn't take care of business as Brackins put up 23 points on 11/16 shooting. If he had not been injured in the last several min of the game the outcome of this game may have been very different.

3-point Shooting - 6/20 from behind the arc. McKenzie was solid at 5/9 but the rest of the team combined for 1/11. Fortunately ISU was worse at 4/20 (good D? not even I'm that optimistic).

OVERALL

Going into the game I really didn't think ISU was very solid. They aren't great but they are better than I thought. Brackins is better than I ever thought, Clark is a solid forward, when this team gets improved shooting from their guards and they get their best player back from injury (Wes Johnson) they could rack up some wins. I don't know if they'll do much damage in the B12 but after we beat them I want nothing but Ws for the Cyclones.

There were only a few "lose-able" games the gophers had on their non-conference schedule. This was one of them and they came away with the win. Florida State, North Dakota State and UNLV are the remaining "lose-ables" but it's good to land this one.

The most important thing is that there is no let down after this game. Central Michigan is next and this win is meaningless if we drop that one.