Junior forward Dusty Rychart became the first Minnesota basketball player to score 30 points in back-to-back games since 1965. The latter resulted in a 107-99 win over TCU in the semifinals of the Hawaii Pacific Thanksgiving Classic in Honolulu.
Minnesota (4-0) played Georgetown (3-0) in the final at 9:30 p.m. local time Sunday night.
Rychart scored 32 points and had 10 rebounds against TCU on Saturday night. He had 34 points in a win against Hawaii-Pacific on Friday.
The Gophers set a school record with 38 free throws made against TCU, and the 107 points were the most by the team since 1992.
Point guard Terrance Simmons had 26, and John-Blair Bickerstaff had 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Minnesota trailed most of Saturday’s game, but took the lead for good on two free throws by Simmons following TCU’s second technical foul. One came from TCU coach Billy Tubbs, the other from the assistant coaches.
The Gophers return home today, then play Florida State in Tallahassee on Wednesday night.
Football
As predicted, the Gophers play North Carolina State at the Micronpc Bowl Dec. 28 at 6 p.m. TBS will televise the game from Miami.
Senior center Ben Hamilton was named to the Walter Camp All-America Team and the Football News First Team All-America, along with punter Preston Gruening.
Hamilton is also a finalist for the Lombardi Award given to the nation’s best lineman.
Tickets for the bowl game can be purchased by calling the Ticket Office at (612) 624-8080 or 1-800-UGOPHER.
Women’s basketball
The Gophers lost their first game of the season 77-59 against Denver in Cancun. The Gophers are 2-1 and played Louisville Sunday night at 8:30 p.m.
In the first half Minnesota shot just 29 percent and committed 17 turnovers, and Denver shot 61 percent in the second half.
Tanisha Gilbert and Lindsay Whalen each had 14 points. Kim Prince added 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench.