Gophers set for last tourney push

When the men’s basketball season began four months ago, the Gophers didn’t expect to be in their current position.
With returning and recruited talent to rival any that they’ve had the past two seasons under head coach Tubby Smith, their sights were set on being near the top of this weekend’s Big Ten Tournament and preparing for a strong run in the NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t want to really get into saying what our record should be,” senior forward Damian Johnson said after last Sunday’s win against Iowa. “We had a lot of games that we needed to win, and we just didn’t take advantage of the chance.”
The Gophers have struggled to step up in big games, Smith said, but they will need to break that habit in a big way if they hope to secure an NCAA Tournament bid.
Minnesota (18-12, 9-9 Big Ten) has lost seven games by five points or fewer, including three one-point losses to teams currently ranked in the top 25.
Thursday’s first-round opponent, Penn State (11-19, 3-15), doesn’t have the caliber of those squads. But the Nittany Lions finished 3-3 in their last six games, with losses to each of the Big Ten’s three co-champions by an average of less than five points.
“They’re a team that’s playing extremely well right now,” Smith said. “We know that they’ve gotten better, which you knew they would.”
The Gophers swept two games against Penn State this season by a combined seven points. They won at home 75-70 behind 29 points from senior guard Lawrence Westbrook. They also escaped on the road when Westbrook hit a buzzer beater in a 66-64 victory.
Nittany Lions guard Talor Battle, an All-Big Ten second-team selection, had two 20-point games against the Gophers and has scored 30 points on four occasions this season.
But Smith said his post players will be vital to the team’s success this weekend.
Sophomore center Ralph Sampson III had his second career double-double in the game at Penn State, but he said he needs to bring an increased level of execution and intensity to Thursday’s contest.
“If I can be more consistent and more efficient in my moves, throw in a few more fakes, knock-down shots that I’m confident in, it will give me a completely different look than the first [two] games,” Sampson said.
Johnson said the key to success in the tournament is maintaining emotions. He said the team struggled to do that in 2008, when it beat third-seeded Indiana on a last-second shot by Blake Hoffarber in the quarterfinals but lost the next day to 10th-seeded Illinois.
“I think we got way too excited after that [Indiana] game,” Johnson said. “[Illinois was] a team that we were very capable of beating, and we ended up losing.”
Minnesota can earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the program’s first Big Ten Tournament title. To reach their first-ever conference championship game, the Gophers will have to go through No. 11 Michigan State and possibly No. 6 Purdue. Those two teams escaped Williams Arena this season with one-point wins and remain the only two Big Ten opponents that Minnesota hasn’t beaten under Smith.
“We want to make sure that we earn the things that we get and the respect that we feel like we deserve,” Smith said. “The only way you can get that is to go out and play at a level that’s beyond what you’ve ever played at before, and that’s what we try to do every day.”
Here’s a look at the Gophers’ possible opponents and other first-round games:
No. 3 Michigan State (bye)
The Spartans (24-7, 14-4) defeated Minnesota in the quarterfinals last season and swept two regular-season games, including a 65-64 victory in which they overcame a 13-point second-half deficit at Williams Arena.
Michigan State lost four of its last nine games to cool more than the other two conference co-champions.
The Spartans have reportedly suspended junior guard Chris Allen indefinitely. Allen scored 19 total points in two games against the Gophers, including four 3-point field goals in the Spartans’ win at Williams Arena.
No. 7 Northwestern vs. No. 10 Indiana
This will be a rematch of Saturday’s regular-season finale in Bloomington, Ind., where the Hoosiers (10-20, 4-14) snapped an 11-game losing streak with an 88-80 overtime win to split the regular-season series.
The Wildcats (19-12, 7-11) have earned their highest seed in six years but they’ve lost four straight first-round games.
A Hoosiers win would set up a game between Indiana and Purdue, the two conference schools closest to Indianapolis — both about an hour’s drive away.
No. 2 Purdue (bye)
The Boilermakers (26-4, 14-4) are the defending tournament champions, but they will be without the most outstanding player of last year’s tournament. All-Big Ten junior forward Robbie Hummel tore the anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee in a 59-58 win Feb. 24 at Minnesota and will miss the rest of the season.
Purdue still has All-Big Ten weapons in first-team guard E’Twaun Moore, second-team center JaJuan Johnson and defensive player of the year Chris Kramer.
No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 9 Iowa
The Wolverines (14-16, 7-11) and Hawkeyes (10-21, 4-14) will meet in the tournament’s first round for the third straight season.
Iowa was the only other team besides the Gophers to be swept by Michigan during the regular season. The winner will face perhaps the conference’s hottest team in Ohio State.
No. 1 Ohio State (bye)
The No. 5 Buckeyes are the tournament’s top seed for the third time in five years and have won 10 of their last 11 games. They are 14-3 since Jan. 6, when Big Ten player of the year Evan Turner returned from a back injury.
Ohio State (24-7, 14-4) has lost to just one Big Ten opponent (Purdue) since falling to the Gophers on Jan. 9 at Williams Arena.
No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 5 Illinois (Friday)
Illinois (18-13, 10-8) has nearly fallen off the NCAA Tournament bubble with losses in five of their last six games.
To make a reasonable case for an at-large bid, the Illini probably need at least a win over Wisconsin (23-7, 13-5), whom they beat on the road but lost 72-57 last Saturday at home.