MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (December 21, 2018) – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team will head into their Christmas break with a 4-8 mark after an 86-67 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big 10 at Williams Arena Friday night. The Aggies find themselves in a good place for the holiday break that ends with a road game at East Carolina on Dec. 28.
The Aggies could easily contribute two of their losses two of their losses to poor free throw shooting and three other losses came to Power Five institutions including Friday
It was another game against a Power Five where the Aggies were competitive for most of the game. In the end, the Golden Gophers used their tremendous size advantage to outrebound the Aggies 49-30. The main culprits for the Golden Gophers were Jordan Murphy (6-foot7, 249) and Daniel Oturu (6-10, 225). Murphy finished with 30 points and 16 rebounds on 11-for-15 shooting. Oturu complemented his efforts with 20 points and 11 rebounds on 9-for-12 shooting.
N.C. A&T's Qua Copeland scored in double figures for the third straight game as he finished with 19 points. Graduate center Ibrahim Sylla was the only other Aggie in double figures. He ended the night with 11 points thanks to an impressive 7-for-8 showing at the free throw line.
Despite the Gophers height advantage, the Aggies were down only by 10, 61-51, with 10:36 to go in the ballgame. Sylla got them even closer with two free throws as N.C. A&T trailed 63-55. A Dupree McBrayer jumper put the Gophers ahead 10 before Copeland netted a three to put the Aggies down 65-58 with 8:02 remaining.
Sophomore Kam Langley kept things close with a runner as the Aggies stayed within eight at 68-60 with 6:45 to play. But McBrayer got the lead above double figures with a 3-pointer. Fifth-year guard Amari Hamilton answered with a jump shot before Oturu's dunk put the Gophers ahead 73-62 with 4:37 remaining. The lead never got under double figures again.
“I thought tonight they were just too big inside,” said N.C. A&T coach Jay Joyner. “Their size really wore us out. We're not that deep in the frontcourt this year like we were last year, so our guards and our frontcourt have to get in there and get their nose dirty and try to rebound. Give Minnesota credit, they played smart basketball. If you don't have anybody to stop you down low, just pound the ball inside.”
Minnesota's size was not a factor early. Sophomore D'Andre Johnson's 3-pointer gave the Aggies a 25-15 lead with 8:15 remaining in the first half. Murphy then led the Gophers on an astonishing 16-0 run with eight points during the spurt. Johnson kept the Aggies close in the first half with another three to cut the Gophers lead to 33-30 with 3:22 to play in the first half. Johnson followed that up with a jump shot and Copeland's free throw trimmed the lead to two at 35-33 with two minutes remaining in the first half.
Murphy helped Minnesota close the half with six straight points as he scored four of those points as the Gophers led 41-33 at the half.
“I thought once again we competed,” said N.C. A&T coach Jay Joyner. “We just played an ACC team in Virginia Tech and then we come to play a Big 10 opponent. Those are two tough road games. I think there are some positives we can take away from this game. “But there was a stretch in the ballgame where we played bad basketball that hurt us tonight.”
