The game plan when the Gophers last scored so little? Stand around

The Gophers men's basketball team last scored fewer points than in Thursday's 61-39 loss to Purdue on Jan. 27, 1951, in a game at Indiana.

The Hoosiers won that game 32-26, when a duel of stubbornness took place between Indiana coach Branch McCracken and the Gophers' Ozzie Cowles.

McCracken's team was high-scoring for the time and later in the 1950s became known as the Hurryin' Hoosiers. But on this Saturday night, McCracken decided to try to get the Gophers out of their packed defense.

Indiana was leading 30-20 with 12:25 remaining in the second half.

McCracken called timeout and then ordered guard Sam Miranda to hold the ball until the Gophers came out of what apparently was a zone defense.

Cowles did not wave his players (including star guard Whitey Skoog) out to defend, so Miranda kept standing in the backcourt ... for the next 6 minutes, 25 seconds.

The sellout crowd of 10,283 in the Indiana Fieldhouse jeered the Gophers for a time, then started singing to the Hoosiers victory song and doing cheers.

Less than five minutes remained when Indiana's Bill Garrett missed a layup. Skoog made a couple of his jumpers — he was a pioneer with that shot — to cut the lead to 31-24, but that was it as far as a rally.

Bob Gelle, one of the Gophers' better players, was hurt and left the game early in the second half. On another note, referee Hale Swanson missed his bus, so the second referee was an official who happened to be visiting campus.

Indiana finished 12-2 in the Big Ten, one game behind champion Illinois. The Gophers were 7-7 and in a four-way tie for fourth.

The other headlines in the Sunday Tribune the next day included Bob Richards clearing 15 feet in the Millrose indoor track and field meet in New York, becoming the second vaulter to clear 15 feet.

The first was Cornelius Warmerdam ... 11 years earlier.