Senior forward Jordan Murphy racked up 30 points, 16 rebounds and four assists, and Richard Pitino recorded his 100th coaching victory at Minnesota in the Gophers' 86-67 nonconference win over North Carolina A&T on Friday in Minneapolis.
Pitino became the ninth coach in the program's history to record 100 wins.
Daniel Oturu recorded his third consecutive double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Dupree McBrayer tossed in 13 points for Minnesota (10-2). Gabe Kalscheur added 10 points.
Quavius Copeland had 19 points to lead North Carolina A&T (4-8). Ibrahim Sylla added 11 points and seven rebounds, and Milik Gantz chipped in eight points and eight rebounds.
Minnesota erased an early double-digit deficit and led 41-33 at halftime.
The Aggies led by 25-15 when D'Andre Johnson made a 3-pointer with 8:15 remaining in the half. The Gophers then reeled off 16 unanswered points.
Murphy got it started with a layup. Kalscheur's layup was followed by a string of Murphy points. He made two layups and two free throws during his personal spurt.
Kalscheur then made a 3-pointer and assisted on an Oturu basket. An Oturu free throw completed the run.
Copeland's layup ended the Aggies' scoring drought, which lasted more than four minutes.
North Carolina A&T was down by just two with less than two minutes left in the half. Minnesota then finished the period on a 6-0 spurt with a layup and dunk from Murphy and a jumper by Isaiah Washington.
Murphy had a pair of dunks in the opening minute of the second half to increase the Gophers' advantage to double digits.
The first basket of the game for Minnesota's Amir Coffey, a 3-pointer, made it 54-40 with 14:42 remaining. Copeland made a 3-pointer and a layup three minutes later to pull the Aggies within 58-51.
That was as close as the visitors came. Murphy reached the 30-point mark with 3:52 left when he dropped in a layup, giving Minnesota a 75-63 lead.
Minnesota is 10-0 against current members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
--Field Level Media
No.Carolina A&T | Minnesota | |
Quavius Copeland 19 | Scoring | Jordan Murphy 30 |
Kameron Langley 4 | Assists | Isaiah Washington 10 |
Milik Gantz 8 | Rebounds | Jordan Murphy 16 |
Ibrahim Sylla 7 | Free Throws Made | Jordan Murphy 8 |
Milik Gantz 2 | Steals | Dupree McBrayer 3 |
D'Andre Johnson 3 | Blocks | Daniel Oturu 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
No.Carolina A&T | 67 | 43.9 | 5-15 | 12-17 | 12 | 29 | 6 | 4 | 14 |
Minnesota | 86 | 45.9 | 4-20 | 14-23 | 24 | 45 | 7 | 11 | 13 |