Coffey Awakens Gophers, Scores 30 as Minnesota Stays Perfect

After Wednesday’s easy victory over Mount St. Mary’s, I asked Richard Pitino if he thought Amir Coffey — who finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists — had just played his best all-around game.

Pitino didn’t think so. He said he preferred Coffey’s performance against UT-Arlington two nights prior.

But after witnessing Friday’s 17-point first half explosion against the Red Storm of St. John’s, there was no need to ask any longer. Coffey played by far his finest game — finishing with 30 points — and his spark propelled the Minnesota Gophers to a 4-0 record with a 92-86 win over their Big East foe.

“It was as impressive a freshman performance as I’ve seen,” said Pitino.

Down by double figures at 22-9 following a groggy start where St. John’s made a barrage of 3-pointers and the Gophers couldn’t score within or protect the paint, Coffey began making his imprint. He brought the house down with two breakaway dunks, the first of which came after picking the pocket of point guard Malik Ellison. As he flushed the ball through, he let out a primal scream — a rare display of emotion from the quiet, level-headed freshman. “First time I’ve showed emotion this year,” Coffey said.

amir-coffey
Photo Credit: Big Ten Network

In the second half, he made a series of nearly impossible contested left-handed layups off drives from the right wing.

Remember, Coffey is a left-handed player, which increases the difficulty of that type of shot but also the likelihood of getting fouled and reaching the line. “We work on that a lot in practice,” he said. “Things like that we go through every day in the workout.”

But not everybody can make it look so easy.

Coffey, in both halves, was the stabilizing force. In the first half, he spurred the comeback, helping the Gophers go from down 13 to up 15 via a 36-9 run. In the second half, he staved off a St. John’s spurt that brought them as close as three. Ten of his 13 second half points came in the final 10 minutes, including a pair of late free throws to get him to the 30-point plateau — surely not the final time he’ll accomplish that feat in his Maroon and Gold career.

“We definitely needed it,” said junior Nate Mason of Coffey’s performance. “It’s always good to see the freshmen get off like that, especially earlier in the year. They’re getting their confidence level up.”

The mood was celebratory after Minnesota’s win, the team’s first of the season over a major conference opponent. Students stayed courtside after the game to give Pitino and Coffey high fives. In the locker room, Pitino was met with a water jug being dumped on his head. Already halfway to matching last year’s win total, the Gophers are having fun. “We haven’t felt good in a while,” Pitino said, subtly alluding to last year’s dismal eight-win campaign, “so to have them feeling good, if they want to do that, I’m fine with it.”

Less flashy than Coffey but still vital to the outcome was the production of Reggie Lynch, who packed the stat sheet with six points, 11 rebounds and nine blocks — not far off from a highly unorthodox triple-double.

In a game where the Gophers actually struggled in the paint against St. John’s size, and got outrebounded 21-10 on the offensive glass, Lynch provided some much-needed rim protection. “Just knowing that you’ve got a big man down there to rebound everything, block everything — didn’t he have like 10 blocks tonight?” Mason asked after the game before receiving the correct answer. “Nine blocks, that’s awesome. It’s definitely reassuring to have a big man like that.”

Mason himself was another catalyst, setting the first-half tempo during Minnesota’s 36-9 outburst. He went into halftime with just four points but five valuable assists. The junior is slowly blossoming into a playmaker that can create for others as well as himself. He also played a big part in Minnesota’s 23-4 edge in fast break points, the manifestation of Pitino’s Defend, Rebound, Run mantra. “It looks a little bit different when you’ve got Nate, Dupree, Amir, they’re all three ball handlers, they all can really go,” Pitino said of the up-tempo pace.

“We want to get out on the break. We feel like we’re pretty hard to guard on the break.”

The game wasn’t mistake-free for Minnesota. Their top three bigs had a combined 13 fouls, their bench didn’t provide much spark aside from a pair of Ahmad Gilbert 3s, and they were badly outrebounded. But ultimately, a 30-point night from Coffey with several complementary performances was enough to offset the wrongs and give Gophers fans a glimpse of what the next several years could be like with Coffey carrying the load.

The phenom from Hopkins has arrived.

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