Gophers top Hilltoppers, on heels of the Tar Heels

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - While his basketball teammates sat in the bleachers before the Gophers beat Western Kentucky 95-77 in a lopsided contest Thursday night in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Ralph Sampson III stood courtside.

The junior center couldn't take his eyes off the floor, as North Carolina dismantled an overmatched Hofstra team. He couldn't believe how close he was to his dream of facing the prestigious program.

After leading all five Gophers starters in double figures with a career-high 22 points and eight rebounds, Sampson doesn't have to wish anymore.

The Gophers (3-0) earned the right to face No. 8 North Carolina (2-0) in the tournament semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday, a game that will be televised on ESPNU.

"I was walking to the gym and had my stuff on and [was] just watching, waiting for the game to end," said Sampson, who also had a career-high seven blocks. "And I was just thinking to myself, [Friday] that could be us. We could be out there running and playing against one of the top-named programs in the NCAA. It's just exciting. I'm very anxious and I'm sure everybody else is and I can't wait."

Junior forward Trevor Mbakwe added 18 points and 10 rebounds, his third double-double in three games. And sophomore forward Rodney Williams tied a career high with 17 points during a victory anchored by Minnesota's 62.5 field-goal percentage.

Forward Steffphon Pettigrew's 25 points led all scorers but his team, which went back and forth with the Gophers in the first half, couldn't recover from Minnesota's 12-2 run to start the second half and a zone defense that contributed to 15 Hilltoppers turnovers in front of an announced crowd of 7,205.

"Well, it's another game, not to take anything away from North Carolina," Smith said. "This [will be] our fourth game of the year. It's not going to make or break our season. ... We've got to play better than we did tonight. We've got a pretty tough schedule going forward, and this is just another opportunity to measure ourselves and test ourselves against a ranked program. We're not playing against the program, we're playing against some pretty good players. It's about the matchups on the court."

Minnesota nearly blew its chance to advance.

Beginning at the 19-minute mark of the first half, the Hilltoppers (2-1) hit one shot from the field until a Pettigrew layup with 12 minutes, 57 seconds to play cut Minnesota's edge to 13-9.

Minnesota should have led by double digits during that scoring drought, but the borderline top-25 squad couldn't get out of its own way.

The Gophers gained momentum during a 6-0 run that took them from a 5-4 deficit to a 10-5 lead with 16:24 to go in the first half.

Switching to a zone late in the first half slowed Western Kentucky and allowed the Gophers to regroup and move on to a matchup against the Tar Heels.

The Gophers haven't played North Carolina since they lost 90-76 during the 1993-94 season.

Mbakwe can't wait. He missed his chance to play Duke his freshman season at Marquette. He said Friday is like a "second chance" against one of college basketball's top teams.