Gophers Unconvincingly Beat North Dakota

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Photo: Bruce Kluckhohn - AP Photo

It wasn’t pretty (again) but the Minnesota Gopher men’s basketball team got another win vs another sub-par team on Friday night. This time, they were taken to the wire by the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux Hawks.

Honestly, the end score of 76-67 looks WAY wider than this game actually played out. The Hawks were leading for more of this game than the Gophers and hung within two possessions deep into the game.

Still… a win is a win and the Minnesota Gophers are 4-0.

Transfers Make Impact

The new Minnesota transfers stole the show on Friday night. Both Gach put up 21 points and hit a 3-pointer late to ice the game. Something might have clicked for Liam Robbins in the second half, when he suddenly looked competent. His final line was promising too, (9 PTS | 7 REB | 5 BLK).

Still, Brandon Johnson’s (Western Michigan transfer) game may have been most impressive. He looks like a guy who will have no problem adjusting to power 5 basketball. He goes hard to the basket and really moves with purpose, both with and without the basketball in his hands. He finished with 15 points, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

But again, there was more bad than good to this game and the Gophers season will be over before it starts if these efforts continue. Pulling out close wins vs LMU and UND won’t translate to victories over P5 schools.

WTF is wrong with Gabe?

Gabe struggled AGAIN from behind the 3-point line and if that doesn’t change, the Gophers will struggle. I’ve given up on trying to understand what his problem is. He was 1/6 from the field tonight and 1/5 from downtown.

Next up, is the ACC/B1G Challenge and the 2020 opponent is the Boston College Eagles, who have been battle tested early. BC is 1-3 on the season but don’t take that early record at its face. The Eagles have lost to #3 Villanova, St. Johns and Florida. Two of the three games were tight.

After the ACC/B1G Challenge, Minnesota will have one more chance to get things right vs something called the “UM Kansas City Knights”, before they get #5 Illinois in their first Big Ten game.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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