Murray, Iowa thwart Minnesota comeback bid for 81-71 victory

Sun, Jan 16, 2022
NCAAB News (AP)

Murray, Iowa thwart Minnesota comeback bid for 81-71 victory

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Sophomore Keegan Murray scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Iowa withstood a furious comeback by shorthanded Minnesota to beat the Golden Gophers 81-71 on Sunday.

Murray sank 11 of 17 shots from the floor in notching his fourth double-double of the season for the Hawkeyes (13-4, 3-3 Big Ten Conference). Jordan Bohannon, Patrick McCaffery and Filip Rebraca all scored 12 points for Iowa, with Rebraca added 12 rebounds for his first double-double.

Payton Sandfort scored in the paint to push Iowa's lead to 66-46 with 10:24 remaining and after the teams traded baskets Treyton Thompson scored eight points in a 22-6 run to get Minnesota (10-5, 1-5) within 72-68 with 2:47 left to play. Jamison Battle's 3-pointer pulled the Golden Gophers within 74-71, but Murray answered with a 3 for Iowa with 59 seconds to go and Bohannon made four free throws in the last 30 seconds.

Minnesota was playing without two assistant coaches and four players - Eric Curry, Sean Sutherlin, Danny Ogele and Joey Kern - due to illness, COVID-19 health and safety protocols or injury. Eight players suited up - seven on scholarship. Last month the Big Ten announced teams must have at least seven scholarship athletes and one coach available to compete in conference games.

  • E.J. Stephens scored 24 points and played all 40 minutes for the Golden Gophers. Battle sank four 3-pointers and scored 20. The duo combined for 29 of Minnesota's 44 second-half points.

    The Hawkeyes, who came in second in the country with a 1.92 assist-to-turnover ratio and who average just 8.9 turnovers per game - third best in country - finished with 18 assists and eight turnovers.

    Iowa will travel to play Rutgers on Wednesday, while Minnesota will try to end a four-game skid when it hits the road to play Penn State.

    ___

    For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25

    Article Copyright © 2022 The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.
    dollarbettingleads.com