BLOOMINGTON, IND. - The Gophers walked out of Assembly Hall victorious and jubilant Thursday night, following their 77-74 victory over No. 7 Indiana. For a minute -- getting caught up in the moment -- it felt as if an 0-4 Big Ten start had been eradicated.
It was a major upset over a top-10 team -- the first time since January 1985 that an unranked Gophers team defeated a ranked team in a true road game. It also ended a 10-game conference losing streak dating to last season and gave a Gophers team in great need of a psychological boost something upon which to lean.
But in the ever-tough Big Ten, there is little time to savor a victory. What separates the anomaly from the trend is a team's ability to build on a victory, which basically means this: Thursday's performance means little unless the Gophers follow it with another good one Sunday at Penn State. The Nittany Lions are only 9-9 overall and 1-4 in the Big Ten, but they have been a much better team at home early on in conference play.
"It's just one win," coach Tubby Smith said. "We've lost four in a row. We'll know at the end of the season what it meant."
Thursday, the Gophers' new lineup worked. The offense worked. And with the game on the line in the final seconds, the Gophers held on. But whether they can sustain the momentum is the real question.
Smith has been searching for the right lineup since the start of the season, when he sorted out a point guard competition and chose freshman Andre Hollins. When Trevor Mbakwe was lost for the season to injury, Smith tried a three-guard lineup, inserting Julian Welch along with Andre and Austin Hollins until a few games later, when Maverick Ahanmisi seized Andre Hollins' job at point guard. Against Purdue, Smith tried starting Joe Coleman over Austin Hollins -- then Thursday started them both with Welch, while Ahanmisi still came off the bench.
The latest formula seemed to work, with the Gophers finding good ball movement and balance to supplement a solid defensive performance. But the Nittany Lions, and their formidable zone defense, present both a test and an opportunity. Can the Gophers take the momentum and run with it? Or will beating the No. 7 team in the country on the road be looked back on as a fluke?
"We've been playing well in spells, but we haven't been able to sustain it," Smith said. "We'll see."
