Gophers hoopsters suffer second loss under Tubby
We all knew that the Minnesota Gophers were better under Tubby Smith this season. We also all knew that the Gophers were playing a Dan Monson-style soft schedule this year in the nonconference portion of their schedule. We all used our custom pens to mark down an asterisk next to the now 10-2 record so far this season, to remind ourselves we have a way to go yet.
In part, that’s why the Duel In the Desert tournament was important for the Gophers, who breezed through the first two rounds against vastly inferior opponents. But on Sunday, when the Gopher’s finally ran up against a decent UNLV team, the Runnin’ Rebels ran roughshod over the team, exposing its weaknesses for the first time this season since the team lost to Florida State.
This loss was worse. At 81-64, the 17-point loss was a far bigger deficit to lose by than the Florida State loss, and proved the Gophers need next year’s recruiting class, ranked tops in the Big 10 by several recruiting analysts, in order to start turning things around not just in the pre-conference part of the season, but during Big 10 and post-season play.
With the loss to UNLV, the Gophers drop to 10-2 with the Big 10 portion of their schedule ready to begin soon.
“This will help us a lot,” Coach Smith said in a post-game press conference. “We’ve haven’t seen a game like this since Florida State. Now they’ll see the things we’ve been trying to get them to understand.”




