Gophers Surge then Hold On to Beat Purdue 58-62

The Gophers won their third game in their last four Big Ten games by holding on to beat Purdue 58-62 at Williams Arena. Trailing by four at the half the Gophers surged to a 10-point lead with a 14-0 run in the first five minutes of the second half.  Minnesota forced Purdue into turnover after turnover, five in that five minute stretch, that were then converted into points.  The Boilermakers made several key threes in the last 10 minutes to make things interesting, but the Gophers held on for their forth conference win.  Andre Hollins led all scorers with 18 points to fuel the Gopher offense.

QUOTABLE: "I thought defensively we had a great game plan. We were trapping down with our guards, doing a lot of really good things. Our defense continues to improve on turning guys over. We played all zone, hardly played any man, and it continues to get better. We adjusted. We were playing a traditional 2-3 zone against Nebraska. We went with a match-up zone and I thought it was really good today."

THE STAT: Turnovers that were converted into points.  When the Gophers do this, their offense becomes much more efficient.  23 Purdue turnovers were converted into 29 points.

TURNING POINT: Halftime was the turning point.  The Gopher defense turned it up a notch and fueled a 14-0 run to start the half that ended up being just a little too much for Purdue.

HOT: Over the last five games Andre Hollins is averaging 19.2 points per game and playing a very nice overall game.

NOTABLE: This was the forth straight home win for the Gophers who have yet to win on the road against a Big Ten opponent.  Two nice opportunities on the horizon over the next week.

UP NEXT: Road trips to Iowa on Thursday and Indiana on Sunday.  Nothing is ever easy in the Big Ten.