Gophers Enjoy Big Ten Glory
Top 25
For 40 minutes, it was just another win for No. 2 Minnesota, with a lot of defense, a lot of help from the bench and plenty of poise down the stretch.
The next 15 minutes made it special.
After A.J. Guyton’s last-second 3-pointer clanged off the rim and the Golden Gophers (26-2, 15-1) had preserved a 75-72 win over No. 22 Indiana (20-9, 8-8) on Saturday, they celebrated the school’s first Big Ten title since 1982.
The Gophers accepted the championship trophy from conference commissioner Jim Delaney, an award they earned with Wednesday’s win at Michigan. Then they basked in streamers, confetti and the adoring cheers from a sellout crowd of 14,625 in Williams Arena.
“It felt very good,” said John Thomas, who mugged with the trophy and boogied with the Gopher mascot. “The fan support is unbelievable here. We knew it was going to be really loud. I can’t say anymore about it. “
It also was a great example of why the Golden Gophers are having the best year in their history and have won the Big Ten for just the third time since 1937.
They have won 11 straight games and 21 of 22.
(5) Utah 78, (11) New Mexico 58
At Salt Lake City, Keith Van Horn, playing in his home-court finale, scored 29 points and the Utes pulled away in the second half to rout the Lobos.
The Utes are 23-3, 15-1 Western Athletic Conference. New Mexico dropped to 22-6, 11-5.
Florida St. 59, (5) Wake Forest 55
At Tallahassee, Fla., Kerry Thompson scored a career-high 21 points, including three crucial free throws in the final 43 seconds, as the Seminoles (16-10, 6-10 Atlantic Coast Conference) upset the Demon Deacons (22-5, 11-5) despite Tim Duncan’s 25th double-double of the season.
Florida State’s win also gave idle Duke the regular-season championship in the ACC.
Memphis 75, (9) Cincinnati 63
At Memphis, Tenn., Cedric Henderson scored 24 points and Sunday Adebayo added 22 as the Tigers upset the Bearcats in coach Larry Finch’s last home game with Memphis.
Play was tight through most of the game before Memphis (16-13, 10-4 Conference USA) took a 63-53 lead on a layup by Torian Richards with 4:17 to play. Cincinnati is 24-6, 12-2.
(12) Clemson 55, Georgia Tech 53
At Atlanta, Terrell McIntyre and Tom Wideman each scored six points in the closing minutes and the Tigers held off the Yellowjackets, ending a three-game skid and locking the Yellow Jackets into the Atlantic Coast Conference basement.
The Tigers (21-8, 9-7) ended the regular season with their first winning record in the league since 1989-90. Georgia Tech (9-17, 3-13) lost its sixth game in a row.
Oklahoma St. 67, (13) Iowa St. 63
At Stillwater, Okla., freshman Joe Adkins, who has averaged just 9 minutes and 2.6 points per game in Big 12 play, made several big plays in the closing minutes and helped the Cowboys upset the Cyclones.
The Cowboys are 15-13, 7-9 in the Big 12; the Cyclones 19-7, 10-6.
Tulane 83, (17) Louisville 71
At New Orleans, Rayshard Allen scored 24 points and Jerald Honeycutt had 23 to lead the Green Wave over the Cardinals.
The Green Wave went to 20-9, 11-3 Conference USA. Damion Dantzler had 15 points to lead Louisville (22-7, 9-5).
(18) Villanova 84, Rutgers 74
At Piscataway, N.J., senior Alvin Williams had a career-high 32 points and the Wildcats (21-8, 12-6) earned the top seed for the Big East tournament by beating the Scarlet Knights in what may have been Bob Wenzel’s final home game as the Rutgers coach.
Rutgers fell to 11-15, 5-13.
(19) Colorado 83, Texas 60
At Boulder, Colo., Martice Moore had 20 points and 20 rebounds and two other Colorado players had double-doubles as the Buffaloes earned the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 tournament with the victory over the Longhorns.
Fred Edmonds scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for Colorado (21-8, 11-5). Texas stands at 16-10, 10-6.
(23) St. Joseph’s 62, La Salle 59
At Philadelphia, Rashid Bey hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the Hawks staved off the scrappy Explorers to clinch first place in the Atlantic 10 East at 21-6, 13-3.
La Salle fell to 10-16, 5-11.
(20) Charleston 83, Florida Intl 73
In Charleston, S.C., the Cougars won their way into the NCAA Tournament as a champion, coming from 12 points down to beat the Panthers in the finals of the Trans America Athletic Conference tournament.
Thaddeus Delaney scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half as the Cougars rose to 28-2. The losers fell to 16-13.
xxxx NCAA automatic bids Schools that have received automatic bids to the NCAA basketball tournament. All bids are by virtue of conference tournament championships with the exception of Big Ten, Ivy League and Pacific-10 conferences, which do not conduct postseason tournaments: Charleston Southern, Big South College of Charleston, Trans America Athletic Conference Minnesota, Big Ten Murray State, Ohio Valley Conference Princeton, Ivy League UCLA, Pacific-10