Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino asked Akeem Springs to speak to the team last month about the midmajor mentality when playing a power conference opponent.
Springs, a senior graduate transfer, was on the other side of the matchup when he helped Wisconsin-Milwaukee beat the Gophers in Minneapolis a year ago. But his 19 points and seven rebounds helped to keep Minnesota from falling into the same trap in a 74-68 victory Tuesday night against New Jersey Institute of Technology in front of an announced 8,189 at Williams Arena.
"I was a midmajor guy," Springs said. "I know how it is. We come in thinking this is the game that can put us on the map. That's how we looked at it."
Trailing throughout the first half Tuesday, the Gophers (8-1) seemed surprised their Atlantic Sun Conference opponent could compete with them despite Springs' warning.
Minnesota opened with a 12-4 run but managed to hold only a 37-35 halftime lead. Not until the last couple of minutes of the game did Pitino's team gain control.
"We didn't have great energy leading up," Pitino said. "That's what I talked about more than anything was, 'Your approach to preparation has got to be better. You can't be bored with little things.' "
Damon Lynn, the active Division I career scoring leader, had scored 33 points with eight three-pointers in NJIT's loss at Purdue this year. The 5-11 senior led his team to an upset at Michigan in 2014, but he had only 12 points on 5-for-24 shooting from the field (2-for-15 from three-point range) Tuesday.
The Highlanders (5-5) still looked confident they could pull off their second-ever victory over a Big Ten opponent after taking a 61-58 lead with 7:13 remaining in the game.