CHICAGO – Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle sat in the postgame news conference watching coach Richard Pitino talk about his basketball team's chances at making the NCAA tournament after Thursday's 77-72 overtime victory over Penn State, but he already knew the answer.
Coyle thought before the Big Ten tournament opener that the Gophers just had to win another game.
"Winning always helps," Coyle said. "The cool thing is that you control it if you win games. It helps your case what you're trying to do long-term. That's the nice thing it's in our hands. We just have to keep winning basketball games."
A week ago, the Gophers upset No. 11 Purdue on Senior Night to essentially get themselves a pretty good shot at one of the 36 NCAA at-large bids, but Coyle pointed out the atmosphere as the most impressive thing about that victory. Fans stormed the Williams Arena court to celebrate with Pitino and his players.
"I was excited for our student-athletes and excited for Richard," Coyle said. "They worked so hard. Purdue is a great basketball team. For us to win that night in front of some great fans, it was awesome. The vibe of the Barn that night was awesome to see."
The Gophers play Purdue for the third time this season in Friday night's quarterfinals at United Center. Junior Amir Coffey, who had 32 points in the 73-69 victory at home, said he's looking forward to the rematch.
"I think both times we played well as a team against Purdue," Coffey said. "We split the series with them, so we'll just enjoy the win [Thursday] and prepare for that game [Friday]."
Major minutes
Coffey finished third in Big Ten games with 35.9 minutes played per game, behind only Penn State's Lamar Stevens (37.3) and Nebraska's James Palmer Jr. (36.9).
