Gophers Beat Indiana 66-60

It turns out the Gophers can win games in February. Minnesota defeated Indiana in front of a sell out crowd 66-60. The Gophers improved to 16-8 overall and 5-6 in Big 10 play. After a poor first half, the Gophers came out a different team in the second and outscored Indiana 36-24 over the final 20 minutes. DeAndre Mathieu, Mo Walker, and Andre Hollins led Minnesota in scoring.

The Four Factors are below:

The Gophers won three of the four factors because of their second half performance. After a poor first half, the Gophers came out with an entirely different attitude, particularly on defense. The Gophers turned Indiana over 12 times in the second half and forced multiple shot clock violations.

Dre Mathieu returned to his early season form tonight. He led the Gophers in scoring with 16 points, 5 assists, and just 1 turnover. He also had multiple Honey Gopher don't care drives to the basket. The best of these was his drive at the end of the second half to seal the game. After a broken play, Mathieu drove to his right, forced his defender off balance, and then pseudo Euro stepped back to the middle for an easy lay up.

In what is becoming the best kind of redundancy, Mo Walker had another excellent game. He finished with with 14 points on 7-11 shooting, 8 rebounds (5 offensive rebounds), and recorded two assist, two steals, and one block. Walker's confidence appears sky high and he is emerging as a major offensive threat.

Dre Hollins was noticeably more comfortable on the court. He was in double figures with 10 points on 4-8 shooting. Hollins still does not appear to be 100%, but if he returns to his former self the Gophers will be very difficult to defend.

Charles Buggs saw minutes for the first time since the Florida State game. He was credited with an assist in limited play.

The Gophers next play at Wisconsin on February 13th.