Gophers conquer UMBC and early fatigue at Williams Arena

Down in the locker room, players restlessly bounced around. They yelled their thoughts instead of speaking them, stood on chairs and sang.

After three games in five days, the Gophers apparently had energy to spare, but they seemed as relieved as anything to get a break.

They'll get one to feel good about after defeating Maryland-Baltimore County 69-51. But the Gophers won't be able to rest long. Another grueling week looms.

After a much-needed day off Sunday, the Gophers leave for the challenging two-game NIT Season-Tipoff tournament at Madison Square Garden — the scene of last year's postseason NIT championship — on Monday. A few days later, they'll play their first true road game at Wake Forest for this year's Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

"I think [these games] prepared all of us a lot," center Mo Walker said. "We're going to have short preparation for these next few games in a short stretch. It keeps us sharp, keeps us mentally prepared."

In the past three games, the 3-1 Gophers have knocked off the competition by 18 points or more, while forcing at least 23 turnovers and posting at least 13 steals in each.

But the team isn't without concerns. On Saturday, Minnesota — shooting just 40 percent from the field — struggled to pull away from a winless UMBC team before a 13-1 run with just over seven minutes to play created some breathing room. Fouls were a significant problem again, with Andre Hollins, Nate Mason and Daquein McNeil all picking up two before halftime, when the Gophers led by just six. Free throws have dogged the Gophers, who haven't shot better than 61 percent from the line. And depth behind starting power forward Joey King is still questionable.

"I don't know if you're ever totally where you want to be because it's still early," coach Richard Pitino said. "I think we're pretty solid right now, and it's very early. Solid's not going to cut it, though. We want to be obviously great."

Greatness hasn't come easily away from Williams Arena recently.

Minnesota was run over by No. 7 Louisville in Puerto Rico after foul trouble and poor free-throw shooting dug an early hole. Last year, the Gophers only won three regular-season games against Division I opponents away from Williams Arena.

Saturday, in the final tuneup before attempting to challenge those numbers, the Gophers took 20 minutes to warm up.

Forty-eight hours after crushing Division II Franklin Pierce 109-57, the Gophers quickly fell behind hot-shooting UMBC 13-9. Minnesota, hampered by foul trouble, shot only 38.9 percent from the field in the first half and 40 percent overall. But in the second, the Gophers picked up the defense and were able to target Walker (15 points, five rebounds) inside enough to push them over the edge.

"We knew we weren't capitalizing on turnovers and making them make mistakes," senior guard DeAndre Mathieu said. "So we turned up the intensity and just decided to play harder."

Minnesota will need that mentality, with three big games awaiting the Gophers. Which explains why Pitino said that while "it wasn't real enjoyable," he preferred a game like this one as a setup for this week.

"We needed to play a game where not everything was going our way," Pitino said. "And that was certainly the case."