With upsets happening almost too frequently to count in college basketball this year, the Gophers came to the Barclays Center Classic not wanting to add to that list.
In the opening game Friday at Long Island University Brooklyn, Minnesota played arguably its best game defensively holding Massachusetts to 31 percent shooting in a 69-51 victory at the 2,500-seat Steinberg Wellness Center.
Jordan Murphy set the tone with 13 of his team-high 16 points in the first half, to go with 11 rebounds. Amir Coffey added 10 points for the Gophers (6-0), who play No. 25 Alabama on Saturday at the Barclays Center.
"We were the most fundamentally sound today," Gophers coach Richard Pitino said. "We guarded their ball screens well. They run really good stuff. I thought we were really, really connected."
No. 2 Arizona and No. 18 Purdue lost twice in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. Iowa was upset by Louisiana and South Dakota State. And Northwestern also has two losses this year. The Gophers are the only remaining undefeated projected top-four Big Ten team.
Even Michigan State fell to Duke in its first early test.
Minnesota's first matchup against a ranked opponent is Saturday with the Crimson Tide, but Murphy said the team captains made sure their teammates didn't dismiss UMass.
"It would've been easy for us to overlook them and look forward to Alabama," Murphy said. "We had to really lock in on the scouting report and know who we were guarding. At one point, I think we had nine straight stops."
The Minutemen (3-2) had a size advantage on their Big Ten opponent in the frontcourt with 6-foot-11, 310-pound Rashaan Holloway and 6-10, 255-pound Malik Hines. But Minnesota used its quickness and sped up the tempo early to take control and force turnovers.
Murphy, leading scorer and rebounder in the Big Ten, scored the first six points of the game. UMass cut it to 18-14 after a three-point play by Luwane Pipkins at the eight-minute mark. But the Gophers blew the game wide open with a 14-0 run.
Michael Hurt's 3-pointer started the rally. Murphy followed with his first 3-pointer of the season. Nate Mason raced ahead of the defense for a layup in transition to make it 32-14 at 4:23. During the run, center Reggie Lynch made probably the defensive play of the game when he ran down UMass guard Unique McLean on the fastbreak to reject a transition layup.
Lynch finished with two blocks and three steals.
The Gophers held the Minutemen to 29 percent shooting in the first half to lead 40-21 at halftime. In the second half, Holloway picked up his third foul in less than a minute. Coffey scored back-to-back baskets to give Minnesota its largest lead at 26 points. UMass coach Matt McCall, who is a former Florida assistant under Billy Donovan, like Pitino, had high praise for the Gophers.
"He put them in a position where they're a top-10 team," McCall said. "He disagrees with me, but I told him I think they are a Final Four team. They've got the pieces."
New York natives Isaiah Washington and Dupree McBrayer and New Jersey native Jamir Harris had family and friends in attendance Friday. Washington, who was last season's New York Mr. Basketball, finished with seven points. McBrayer and Harris added eight and three points, respectively.
Former Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who was fired after FBI probe allegations surfaced of his assistant paying a recruit, was in attendance to watch his son for the first time this season.
"They have a really talented team," Rick Pitino said. "He's recruited well. These guys have been playing together for a long time. I think they're going to have a really good year."
