For 30 minutes of basketball, reality hit the Gophers, and it hit hard.
But the Gophers rose to the challenge, reversing a second-half deficit to overcome Richmond, finishing strong and winning 72-57 at Williams Arena on Sunday night to improve to 4-0 on the season.
With 10 minutes remaining in the second half, the Gophers trailed 49-42 to a Richmond team that had kept the home team on its toes all night with its length and scrappiness.
But after going scoreless for just over four minutes, the Gophers, playing before an announced 11,341, made their comeback in a little less than two. Andre Hollins pushed a 12-0 run to give the Gophers a 54-49 advantage, a lead that would never again be threatened.
"We really needed that," said Austin Hollins, who finished with 13 points and four rebounds after going scoreless in the first half. "We had blowouts our first three games, and we didn't need a blowout this game. We needed a game like this, where we faced some adversity, and we overcame."
Representing the last matchup for the Gophers before they face No. 9 Duke in the Bahamas on Thursday, Richmond (3-1) immediately showed it was not going to be pushed around like the Gophers' first three opponents. The Spiders jumped out to a 17-8 lead quickly before the Gophers launched their first comeback, a 15-4 run started when Rodney Williams scored on consecutive layups, throwing his head back and screaming after the second, and then dunked a possession later.
"I was really just trying to get the crowd into it and trying to pump up everybody else because we definitely needed some energy at the time," Williams said.
At halftime, the Gophers led by a point at 30-29, but the Spiders weren't ready to go calmly into the night. Richmond held the Gophers scoreless for a little more than four minutes, as they built up a seven-point lead on Cedrick Lindsay's jumper halfway through the second half.
