Point guard role for Hoffarber doesn't keep him from his points

The Gophers looked to be headed for comfortable victory over undersized and undertalented Northwestern, and then they went into a 5 1/2-minute stupor against the Wildcats' patented 1-3-1 zone.

There is no better shooter from long range in college basketball than the Gophers' Blake Hoffarber. Normally, he would have been darting about and looking for a seam to fire his jump shot.

On this Wednesday night, Hoffarber was playing ironman minutes at point guard, because of the broken foot suffered by his fellow senior Al Nolen.

Hoffarber was stuck up top against that zone, and the Gophers had turned sloppy with their passes down the stretch of the first half. And, somehow, a 29-16 lead had turned into a 34-33 halftime lead for the Wildcats.

At halftime, a ceremony honored Chuck Mencel, a Gophers great from 1953 to 1955. His No. 30 went on a banner on the Barn's west wall -- the seventh player to be so honored.

Tubby Smith was asked to participate with a few words at the start of the ceremony. Smith has learned to admire Mencel, a man with his heart still in Gophers basketball, but the coach also seemed a bit anxious to get to the locker room.

In addition to praise for Mencel, Smith told the crowd, "We're hoping to get back in the game in the second half." And he followed by saying to Mencel, "We could use a jump shooter like you tonight."

It became clear early in the second half what Smith had said when he reached the locker room: "We're bigger, stronger and more athletic than those poor, scrawny 'Cats. Keep the ball high and pass it around inside."

Just like that, Ralph Sampson III and Trevor Mbakwe were playing volleyball and using Colton Iverson as the scorer. The 6-10 junior had no points at halftime, and he had 11 points in the first five minutes of the second half.

And once the Gophers started tearing up Northwestern down low, the Wildcats had to leave Hoffarber. He promptly splashed in a three-pointer to make it 46-39.

Later, Smith was asked about how things have changed for his attack -- with Hoffarber now more responsible for running the offense than hunting for shots.

"That's probably the best way to get those shots -- by going inside and then back out to shoot the three," Smith said. "That way, he has his feet set and he's looking at the basket."

Hoffarber was 2-for-5 on threes and still finished with a game-high 20 points in what ended up an 81-70 victory.

One nice advantage for the Gophers with Hoffarber as the point guard: He should get fouled more.

For the season, Hoffarber was averaging fewer than three free throws a game. On Wednesday, he was 6-for-6 in the final 4:40 and made all eight for the game. He's shooting 83.3 percent at the line.

Smith tried to create mystery as to what his post-Nolen lineup would look like, but to no one's surprise he went with the veterans: juniors Iverson, Sampson and Mbakwe across the front, the 6-7 Rodney Williams at off guard and Hoffarber at the point.

The surprise came in Smith's limited use of the sixth through eighth men on his roster: freshmen Austin Hollins, Maverick Ahanmisi and Chip Armelin. Ahanmisi and Armelin played a few minutes in the first half and only a few seconds in the second. That meant 38 minutes for Hoffarber -- the same as Mbakwe.

Northwestern coach Bill Carmody suggested the Gophers will see pressure in the future, what with 6-4 Hoffarber as the only real guard on the floor. Hoffarber was asked whether that could be Purdue's plan for Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

"They might do that," he said. "Northwestern plays that 1-3-1 zone, but I would expect to see [pressure] in the future."

No matter the approach in the backcourt, those future foes will have to deal with three tall, wide players across the front that on Wednesday did an excellent job of passing the ball to one another.

"The passing was phenomenal," Hoffarber said. "When you have three 7-footers moving the ball like that, they are going to get lots of dunks."

That's what he said, three 7-footers, and that's what Mbakwe, Iverson and Sampson must have looked like to the Wildcats.

Patrick Reusse can be heard noon-4 weekdays on 1500ESPN. • preusse@startribune.com