Turnovers plague IU in 62-54 loss

MINNEAPOLIS – Paul Carter’s career-high 22 points and a season-high 14 steals by quick-handed Minnesota helped the Gophers hold off the IU men’s basketball team 62-54 on Tuesday.

Playing without suspended leading scorer Devan Dumes, IU (6-17, 1-10) had only four players with a field goal while matching a season-high 26 turnovers. Tom Pritchard, second on the Hoosiers in points, fouled out scoreless in the second half.

Devoe Joseph added nine points for Minnesota (19-5, 7-5), which won for just the third time in the last seven games despite committing 19 turnovers of its own.

Verdell Jones led IU with 18 points and seven assists; Nick Williams added 15 points, and Matt Roth pitched in 11 points. But Jones and Williams were two of four players with five turnovers.

The Gophers’s start-scorer Lawrence Westbrook was limited to four points – all on free throws – and the Gophers went only 3-for-13 from 3-point range. 

But it was enough on this night against the struggling Hoosiers.

With Michigan State pulling comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack in this better-than-expected Big Ten, Minnesota is in a group of what looks like five teams fighting for position off of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Victories against Louisville, Ohio State, Penn State and Illinois look good on the Gophers’ dossier, but a home defeat would have been costly.

Minnesota’s had an on-again, off-again relationship with the national rankings, and a rough time on the road last week – featuring losses to the Spartans and Buckeyes – pushed them out of The Associated Press Top 25.

The Gophers too often have been letting their opponents dictate the style and pace of the game, and their half-court offense has had no rhythm and yielded little production in recent weeks. They’re relying almost solely on that aggressive “ball line” defense coach Tubby Smith teaches, turning errant and lazy passes into quick steals and layups or dunks on the other end.

Well, the Hoosiers gave them plenty of opportunities to do that.

They made only one of seven shots taken outside the lane in the first half and missed five of 10 attempts in the paint, frequently losing possession before they could even get the ball up. Malik Story’s 3-pointer pulled IU within two at 14-12, but Minnesota led by seven at the break.

The Gophers couldn’t get anything to fall in the early minutes of the second half, though, and suddenly the Hoosiers – who’ve had a humbling, frustrating first season under coach Tom Crean as they cleanse the once-proud program following the infamous recruiting scandal – were threatening to pull away.

Roth, who made nine 3-pointers in a game two weeks ago against Ohio State, swished back-to-back shots from behind the arc to complete a 16-6 run and give IU its only lead.

It lasted little more than 30 seconds.

Carter made a layup to put Minnesota back in front, and Al Nolen turned a backcourt steal into a fastbreak dunk. After another Hoosier turnover, Carter put the crowd in a roar by grabbing a lob pass from Damian Johnson and rattling the rim with a dunk of his own to make it 41-34 midway through the half. Jamal Abu-Shamala followed with a 3-pointer soon after.