Augustana College from Sioux Falls, SD traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota to take on the University of Minnesota in an exhibition basketball game.
Augustana started the game in a zone defense. They looked to make Minnesota spread the floor in their offensive set.
Augustana looked to get the ball into Minnesota native Cody Schilling's hands. Cody knew where his guys were on the floor and looked to get every one involved in the play.
Neither team took a lot of shots in the opening minutes of the game. It took them a while to get into a shooting rhythm.
Austin Hollins did a good job of running the point guard spot. He got the ball down the court quickly and was able to find his open man for back door layups.
At the first media timeout the score was Minnesota 8 and Augustana 6.
Trevor Mbakwe for the Gophers came up with some nice rebounds on both ends of the floor. On the offensive end he didn't care who was in his way. He went after every rebound.
Augustana shot the ball well to start the game off. They were also able to create match-up problems for the Gophers.
Tubby Smith experimented with his lineup as he made some wholesale substitutions early in the game.
Chip Armelin was able to step behind the three-point line and knock done some long three-point shots.
Cody Schilling kept on shooting the ball. His teammates knew where he would be able to step up and knock down some mid-range jump shots.
With 11:08 left in the first half at the media timeout the score was Augustana 19 and Minnesota 15.
Augustana was able to break the Minnesota press. Drae Murray did a good job of driving to the basket. He was their little 5-9 point guard. He was not afraid to shoot the ball from anywhere on the court.
The Augustana defense gave the Gophers problems. The Gophers had difficulty scoring inside the paint.
At the 7:31 media timeout the score was Augustana 24 and Minnesota 19.
Minnesota went to a full court press. Augustana was able to break the press.
Minnesota also looked to push the ball down the court and get the tempo into their favor.
Chip Armelin for the Gophers stepped up and was able to knock down shots when he was in the game.
With 3:53 left in the first half at the media timeout the score was Augustana 29 and Minnesota 26.
Julian Welch stepped back and drained a three-point shot to keep the Gophers in the game.
Augustana called a :30 timeout with 1:08 left in the first half.
At halftime the score was Augustana 38 and Minnesota 33.
Austin Hollins opened up the second half with a deep three-point shot. On the defensive end he was able to slow down his man he was guarding.
The Gophers went to a full court press. They wanted to get Augustana rattled. The Gophers went on a run to open the second half.
The Gophers were able to get a 48-42 lead with 16:00 left in the second half.
The score went back and forth midway through the second half. Neither team looked to have the other team make easy shots.
Trevor Mbakwe picked up a flagrant foul. That was his third foul of the game. He went after a loose ball and Cody Schilling went flying.
Drae Murray continued to shoot the ball well in the second half. He was very confidant in his shot.
With 11:47 left in regulation at the media timeout the score was Minnesota 50 and Augustana 46.
Joe Coleman went hard after rebounds on both ends of the floor. He dove on the floor after loose balls and was not afraid to go after rebounds.
Oto Osenieks also did a good job of defending his man for the Gophers. He made it difficult for him to get shots. On loose balls he didn't give up until the referees blew the whistle.
With 7:41 left in regulation the score was Minnesota 57 and Augustana 53.
Rodney Maurice Williams did a good job of defending his guy. He was able to make his guy turn it over late in the game.
With 3:52 left in regulation the score was Minnesota 63 and Augustana 60.
The game came down to the wire. Augustana continued to shoot the ball well.
Minnesota came away with the 72-60 victory over Augustana. The leading scorers for Minnesota were Trevor Mbakwe with 22 points and Rodney Williams with 10 points. Minnesota shot 21-45 from the field and that included going 5-17 from behind the three-point line. Minnesota was 25-38 from the free throw line. They brought down 44 rebounds including 32 on the defensive end.
The leading scorers for Augustana were Drae Murray with 22 points and Cody Schilling with 16 points. Augustana shot 22-68 from the field and that included going 8-26 from behind the three-point line. Augustana was 8-14 from the free throw line. They brought down 41 rebounds including 22 on the defensive end.
I thought that the Gophers needed some work on the inside. I thought that they got beat up within the paint area. Augustana did a good job of getting in the paint and making it hard for the Gophers to shoot the ball.
I thought that for Augustana Drae Murray played well. He kept his composure throughout the game. I also thought that Ellsworth, Minnesota native Cody Schilling played well. He was showed his patience on the offensive end and was not afraid to pass first if his shot was not open.
After the game head Coach Tubby Smith talked about the game overall and the final exhibition game. In his opening statement he said, "First of all I want to say I’m pretty impressed with Augustana. We knew they would come in and be aggressive. They have a lot of local players on this team, as is always the case. Exhibition games are games that you try a lot of different things. You always want to play better. Coaches want to see the perfect game, and it was certainly far from it tonight. But I think Rodney (Williams) and Trevor (Mbakwe) both understood what we need to do to get back in the game, to turn this around and be more aggressive and physical. I thought we did that much better in the second half, challenging shots. We’re still not shooting the ball well. We had a lot of open shots and we just don’t seem to have much of a rhythm. Much of that has to do with early season, trying a lot of different combinations and trying to give a lot of guys opportunities to get their feet wet and we still have a lot of guys that haven’t played a lot of basketball with us and they're still learning."
Trevor Mbakwe talked about if there was a certain point where the Gophers decided if "enough is enough"... “Yeah, last year coming down the stretch I don’t think I did a good job of being a leader and stepping up, and I think that that is where veteran players show their true colors. I just wanted to keep being aggressive. My teammates did a good job of finding me when I was open and I was able to make my free throws.” On not having Blake Hoffarber to rely on...“Yeah, we counted on Blake, and this year--me, Ralph and Rodney being the more experienced guys here--we need to do a better job down the stretch the last five minutes.
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