Gophers' offense buries Hoosiers

MINNEAPOLIS -- Tom Coverdale kicked the ball, and Dane Fife finished the game with two tackles. \nYou won't find those statistics on any sheet of paper, but they do justice to IU's matchup with Minnesota at Williams Arena Saturday.\nFife got physical, pulling down and jumping on top of Minnesota players. Coverdale got emotional, stabbing at the ball with his foot following a missed free throw. And IU got frustrated, ending a three-game winning streak and falling to second place in the Big Ten after Ohio State's slim 58-57 win over Northwestern. \nMinnesota used a 16-1 run midway through the second half to upend the Hoosiers 88-74 in front of a season-high 14,492 fans in Williams Arena.\nAfter IU (14-7, 7-2 Big Ten) closed the first half with an 11-point lead, Minnesota (13-7, 6-3) changed its approach and its mind-set. The scoreboard followed suit. \nFreshman Rick Rickert led the Gophers with a game-high 27 points -- he scored 26 in Minnesota's win over Penn State Wednesday -- and senior Dusty Rychart added 14 as the Gophers put four players in double figures. \nCoverdale, a junior, led IU with 19. Fife, a senior, scored 11 and junior Kyle Hornsby added 10. \n"This is a tough place to win," IU coach Mike Davis said. "They played a great second half. We contested shots. They made big shots. Offensively, they took us out of our flow and rhythm and that's the first time that's happened all season."\nIU shot just 31.9 percent in the second half and hit only 4 of 13 three pointers. Minnesota shot 63 percent and knocked down five of eight threes en route to their third consecutive victory, which pulls them into sole possession of third place in the Big Ten. \nThe Gophers out-scored IU 51-26 in the second half and forced IU to play beyond the three-point line. That area had been a comfort zone for IU, which managed 10 threes, but the Gophers forced 17 turnovers and IU sputtered out of the break, missing on 12 of its first 16 shots. \nBy that time, Minnesota grabbed a 66-60 lead via a scoring binge that featured points from seven different players. Jerry Holman's bucket with 9:57 remaining gave Minnesota a 58-57 lead, its first since the 13:05 mark of the first half. Travarus Bennett's steal and dunk on IU's next possession sent the Gopher fans into a frenzy and seemed to zap out all the spark from the Hoosiers. \n"(We had) defensive intensity," Rickert said of what ignited the Gopher run. "We were much more focused. We knew we couldn't play the way we played in the first half and win."\nA free throw from IU junior Jeff Newton was the only point the Hoosiers scored during the four-minute stretch. Newton scored a bucket to end the run with 7:40 remaining, but when the officials whistled Jeffries for his fourth foul on the Gophers' next possession, Davis erupted. Referee Sam Lickliter stuck Davis with a technical, and Rickert hit four straight free throws to stretch the lead to 10. IU got back-to-back three-point possessions from senior Jarrad Odle and Hornsby, but drew no closer than six the rest of the way. \n"It hurt us," Davis said of the technical. "But I thought it would motivate us."\nMinnesota coach Dan Monson used more conventional motivational techniques. His halftime speech stressed getting back to the basics, and it worked. \n"If I have to throw water coolers and rant and rave in a game of this magnitude, then you've got no chance," Monson said. "They knew they didn't play well enough in the first half. I didn't tell them anything revolutionary. I didn't give them any Knute Rockne deal."\nIU was the crisper team in the first half and out-rebounded Minnesota 25-10 in the half. IU had as many offensive rebounds as the Gophers had total, and second-chance bucket from sophomore George Leach as time expired extended IU's lead to 48-37 at halftime. \nIU took the lead it held until the halfway mark of the second half on a three pointer from Coverdale. The IU point guard hit three consecutive threes to pull IU ahead by five, and IU later pushed the lead to 13 on two free throws by Hornsby. \nIn the half, Jeffries didn't hit his first field goal until just more than four minutes remained. He scored six points in the half, but missed all three of his shots in the second stanza. He finished one of eight from the field and ended his streak of four consecutive double-doubles. His lone second-half point came from the free throw line, and his seven total points tied a season-low he set against Miami (Fla.). \nThe Gophers used a variety of defenses to stop IU's inside-out attack. The plan slowed down an IU offense that entered the game shooting 44.7 percent from the field. \n"I probably screwed up not giving Jared Jeffries more shots," Davis said. "I should have called more plays to go to him. I played defense on Jared tonight."\nThe loss is IU's fifth consecutive at Williams Arena, where the Gophers are 12-1 this season. Minnesota erased a 13-point IU lead in the final three minutes last season, but the Hoosiers couldn't return the favor this time. \n"It was the same situation as last year, except I'm glad it wasn't the last three minutes when they came back and beat us (Saturday)," Davis said. "If we're at home tonight, we win by 20. They were home. When we missed shots, they made shots"