THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA GOPHERS TOOK ON UTAH VALLEY IN MEN’S BASKETBALL AT THE BARN

The University of Minnesota Gophers took on Utah Valley in men’s basketball. The Gophers won the tip. They wanted to try to set the pace early in their favor in the game. They wanted to control the game from the get go.

Neither team was able to make a shot early on. Damian Johnson made the Gophers first basket with 16:16 left in the first half.

The Gophers looked to push the ball in transition early on in the game. Whenever they got a defensive rebound they looked to get the ball out of the net and get the ball up the court in a hurry.

The Gophers played a tough man to man defense early on in the first half. They wanted to try to pester Utah Valley and try to have them create turnovers.

Rodney Williams, who got his first start of the season, came up big in the first half. He was all over the place making good plays for the Gophers.

Utah Valley played very aggressively in the first half. They really put pressure on the Gophers in the first half.

Utah Valley played well in the first half. They kept the game close throughout the first game.

At half time the score was Minnesota 32 and Utah Valley 24.

The Gophers started out the second half in a full court press. They wanted to try to disrupt Utah Valley at the start of the second half as they did to begin the game.

Rodney Williams had a nice two handed slam dunk with 14:30 left in the second half to give the Gophers a 43-32 lead. He played well throughout the game. He played really hard.

With 8:48 left in regulation Rodney Williams hit and fell to the floor hard on a slam-dunk attempt but he bounced back up and was fine. He was fouled hard by Justin Baker.

The Gophers were able to take over in the second half. Rodney Williams had his coming out party in this game. He finished the game with 17 points. I thought he played really well on both ends of the court.

Minnesota was able to come away with the 76-51 victory over Utah Valley. Minnesota was lead in scoring by Rodney Williams with 17 points. Damian had 15, Al Nolen 11 and Paul Carter 10. Jordan Sawrbrick had 11 points for Utah Valley.

After the game Minnesota players Al Nolen and Damian Johnson talked about the game. Tubby Smith also talked about his thoughts on the contest.