Gopher Basketball Defeats Retrievers of UMBC 51-69

THE FACTS: Minnesota played their third game in five days and struggled shooting the ball but still had little trouble holding off Maryland Baltimore County defeating the Retrievers 51-69.  UMBC jumped to an early lead as Minnesota started sluggish but the Gophers took the lead in the first half and never really looked back.  Maurice Walker took advantage of a Gopher size advantage leading Minnesota with 15 points.

QUOTABLE: Mo Walker on what the team needs to do moving forward.  "Just staying consistent. Keeping it deep defensively. Keeping the ball moving offensively. I think the guys are doing a great job sharing the ball, you know, DeAndre had a bunch of assists out there today. I think we're all really looking for each other and playing unselfish"

THE STAT: There were a couple of big stat differentials.  The Gophers utilized 40-14 points in the paint domination to help hold off UMBC.  Turnovers were low for the Gophers (just 8) and really high for the Retrivers (23).

TURNING POINT: With about 5 min left in the first half, the Gophers took the lead on a Mo Walker lay-up and they wouldn't trail the rest of the game slowly building their lead to the 18-point win.

NOTABLE: Not much to say really. UMBC is not particularly good and the Gophers slowly put them away throughout all 40 minutes.

UP NEXT: St. John's Red Storm (3-0) on Wednesday in New York City.  That game will be followed by either #13 Gonzaga (3-0) or Georgia (2-1) and then that game is followed by Wake Forest (2-2) as part of the Big Ten / ACC Challenge.  Three straight resume boosting wins are out there for the taking.