STATE COLLEGE, PA. - Can this be the start of something?
After losing their first four Big Ten games, the Gophers find themselves heading home fresh off a two-game winning streak and full of a new confidence after beating Penn State 80-66 Sunday at Bryce Jordan Center.
Freshman Joe Coleman had a career game with 23 points, five rebounds and a 13-for-14 performance at the free-throw line, buoying a slow-starting Gophers team to a solid finish after they held off three Penn State runs.
"[Coleman has] played that way from Day 1; he's just such a hard worker, such a committed player that you knew he was just going to eventually blossom," coach Tubby Smith said of Coleman, who was making his third consecutive start and came in averaging 4.5 points per game. "And now he's making free throws and the more he makes the more confident he gets and the more confidence we have in him."
Julian Welch (15 points), Rodney Williams (14) and Austin Hollins (12) also finished in double digits for the Gophers (14-5, 2-4 Big Ten), who shot 55.3 percent from the floor, including 50 percent (5-for-10) from three-point range. They hope their success will continue as they head back to Williams Arena, where they take on Northwestern on Sunday.
"That's definitely a big confidence-booster after losing four in a row and two of them at home," Williams said. "We should be ready to get back home and finally get a Big Ten win there -- because it's been a while."
The Gophers sparked the modest streak Thursday, stunning No. 7 Indiana 77-74. But perhaps the bigger test was Sunday, when the Gophers needed to keep the momentum going and prove the Hoosiers game was not a fluke.
But if this team is going to start something new, the Gophers need to get rid of a lot of the old. Sunday, they built a 44-33 lead 3:17 into the second half. But about 4 1/2 minutes later, it was nearly gone after an 8-0 Penn State run shrunk its deficit to three.