Gopher Basketball pulls away late to beat Fairleigh Dickinson 60-43

The Gophers overcame a poor shooting night but played great defense to hold off the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights 60-43. Bobby Durkin scored his career high as a Gopher with 19 points, leading all scorers, with Jalen Crocker Johnson right behind him with 17.

THE STAT: This game was not pretty offensively, but the Gopher defense held the Knights to just 43 points. That is the lowest point total allowed in a game since the 2011-12 season when they beat Tennesee St 72-43 and a week before that game they beat American 72-36.

The Knights were held to just 0.71 points per possession, the lowest defensive efficiency number allowed since November of 2021 when they held Purdue-Fort Wayne to 0.67.

TURNING POINT: With 1:12 remaining in the first half, Minnesota clung to a 1-point lead over the Knights. Langston Reynolds hit two free throws before the end of the half to give the Gophers a 3-point halftime lead and then they went on a 19-1 run to start the second half. This opened up the game and the Gophers then cruised to the 17-point win.

HOT: Durkin’s 19 paced the team but over the last five games Durkin has been put into the starting lineup and is averaging nearly 12 points per game.

NOT: Isaac Asuma had an abysmal shooting night. The sophomore was 1/10 from three, 2/14 from the floor overall and finished with five points. Now that they are heading into Big Ten play, they are really going to need Asuma to contribute more.

Reynolds should get an honorable mention NOT after not making a field goal, finishing with two points and five turnovers.

GOOD MOVE: Whatever was said at halftime. It cannot be reiterated enough how bad FDU is, and the fact that the score was 29-32 at the half is an indictment on how poorly Minnesota was playing. I imagine that Niko Medved was hot during halftime. He doesn’t seem like he’s a yeller and I can’t see him throwing things in the locker room, but I bet at times it comes out.

NOTABLE: Minnesota continued their recent run of an incredibly high assist rate. Against the Knights they had 20 assists on 22 made baskets (90.1%). The Gophers lead the country in his stat with a 74.7% assist rate. The next best is Michigan State at 71% and Texas A&M at 68.8%.

UP NEXT: It is time for the heart of the Big Ten season and the Gophers hit the road to face Northwestern on Saturday, January 3rd. The game is a 4:00 tip and can be seen on BTN.