Don’t call it an upset
Gophers can’t keep up with Blue Raiders
Maybe the NCAA Tournament selection committee didn’t do Minnesota such a favor after all.
Sure, they received a No. 5 seed and got to play within driving distance of their campus, guaranteeing they would have a huge number of fans in attendance Thursday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
But it matched them against Middle Tennessee State.
All those Big Ten teams who were ticked that the Gophers got such a high seed should be thankful they did. The Gophers
were no match for the battle-tested Blue Raiders, the team that gained national recognition last season when it beat Michigan State as a 15 seed. Underdogs? “I don’t think so at all,” MTSU coach Kermit Davis said after his team polished off the Gophers, 8172, in a South Regional first-round game. “We have a lot of respect for Minnesota, but our record speaks for itself and kind of what we’ve done all year long. I know our players don’t think it was an upset by any means.”
The Gophers (24-10) were the bigger, stronger and more athletic team, but their lack of depth and their inability to solve Davis’ rotating defenses negated that advantage. Add in the tournament experience the Blue Raiders (31-4) gained last year and this was an ambush.
“Whether they’re a 12
seed or any number of seed, I don’t really know how to answer that question,” Gophers forward Jordan Murphy said. “They’re a really good team.”
MTSU senior Reggie Upshaw Jr. led his team with 19 points and nine rebounds, and his threepointer with 6 minutes 43 seconds left in the game was the kind of clutch shot seniors with tournament experience are supposed to make.
Guard Giddy Potts added 15 points and forward JaCorey Williams chipped in 13 with six rebounds and a block. Freshman Amir Coffey led the Gophers with 17 points, guard Dupree McBrayer added 16 and Murphy had 15.
Minnesota had rallied from 16 down with 10:41 left, going on a 13-2 run in which the previously sizzling Blue Raiders shot 1 for 7 and turned the ball over three times. Minnesota’s Eric Curry completed a three-point play to cut the lead to 62-58.
It took just 19 seconds for Upshaw to work his way free on the wing and drill the three-pointer. After the ball went through the net, he turned to the section where MTSU fans were sitting, pumped his fist and roared like a lion.
“We talked about defending and rebounding,” Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said. “We didn’t really do either one. Kermit does an awesome job. That doesn’t surprise me. They’re a really good team.”
The three-pointer started a run in which Up- shaw scored seven straight points for the Blue Raiders, helping them pump the lead back to eight with 4:30 left. At that point, the Gophers, forced to play three of their starters at least 37 minutes due to foul trouble, began to wilt.
Minnesota missed five of its next six shots after Upshaw’s big three-pointer and saw its chances of advancing fade away.
“In my head I was just thinking, I’m a senior leader,” Upshaw said. “JaCorey (4-for-14 shooting) was having a rough night, Giddy was in foul trouble, I felt like this was the perfect time for me to kind of step up and kind of shoulder the offense and try to get everybody else going.”
The Blue Raiders fell behind, 7-0, but they were attacking the basket early with their big men, who worked from the wing to the basket instead of posting up. It caused Minnesota big man Reggie Lynch and later Murphy to get into foul trouble, allowing MTSU to have its way
around the hoop.
It won the rebounding battle, 37-24, and stymied the Minnesota offense with a 1-3-1 defense that forced shooting guard Nate Mason into 2-for-10 shooting, including 1 for 7 on three-pointers.
“It kind of threw their guards off,” Upshaw said. “Definitely threw off Mason. He’s used to just kind of coming down the court and creating mismatches off ball screens. So when we went to our (1-3-1) it threw him off.”
The Gophers saw it coming, but there was nothing they could do about it.