Minnesota Ends Trojans’ Season

The combination of sophomore guard Voshon Lenard and an enthusiastic standing-room-only home crowd was all Minnesota needed to knock USC out of the National Invitation Tournament on Wednesday night.

Lenard scored a game-high 25 points and a crowd of 15,393 helped ignite a second-half rally, carrying the Gophers to a 76-58 victory in a quarterfinal game at the Met Center.

“The best team definitely won,” said USC Coach George Raveling, whose Trojans finished the season with an 18-12 record. “Minnesota is a better basketball team than we are.”

Minnesota (20-10) will play Providence (20-11) in the semifinals Monday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Providence advanced with a 75-68 victory Wednesday over Boston College.

USC, impressive during postseason victories over Nevada Las Vegas and Pepperdine, stayed with the Gophers in the first half, but the Trojans’ 25.9% shooting during the second half killed them.

With Lenard leading the way with 14 second-half points, the Gophers outscored USC, 44-30, after halftime.

“I think that in the second half they wore us down physically,” Raveling said. “I told (Minnesota Coach Clem Haskins) that he should let some of his guys play on the football team.”

While USC started only two players taller than 6 foot 3, Minnesota had only one player under 6-4. Their size advantage helped the Gophers outrebound USC, 42-32.

However, Minnesota’s biggest advantage was its home crowd.

The Gophers are the talk of the Twin Cities.

In a span of nine days, Minnesota drew 45,591 for its three home games, including 18,254 at the Target Center Monday for its second-round victory over Oklahoma.

“Our fans are just wonderful,” said Haskins, whose postseason record at Minnesota is 8-3. “The kind of support they give is the reason why we have an opportunity to go to New York.”

Raveling could only admire the Gophers’ enthusiastic fans, who are the reason Minnesota played three home NIT games.

“I was stunned with the attendance they got at these games,” said Raveling, whose team played only one of its three postseason games at the Sports Arena. “We pulled in to the parking lot (two hours) before game time and I was astounded to see people tailgating for a basketball game.”

The Trojans were able to take the crowd out of the game in the first half with a strong start sparked by Lorenzo Orr.

Orr, who emerged as USC’s top player the last half of the season, was unstoppable for the first 20 minutes with 14 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots.

With Orr holding his own inside against the bigger Gophers and Phil Glenn, Rodney Chatman and Dwayne Hackett making three-pointers, USC trailed by only 32-28 at halftime.

However, in the second half, Orr picked up three quick fouls as Minnesota built its lead. The Gophers stretched their advantage to 55-45 when Orr fouled out with 7:12 remaining.

“That killed us because we had no inside offense with him out,” Raveling said. “I thought three of his fouls were ill-advised.”

Without Orr, USC was no match for the hot-shooting Gophers, who made 52.1% of their shots during the second half. The leader for Minnesota was Lenard, who also had five rebounds, four steals and three assists.

“Everyone had the look of determination in their eye to get the job done, especially in the second half,” said Lenard, who played against Orr during their high school days in Detroit.

Once they got behind, the Trojans turned to their three-point shooting, which has bailed them out throughout the season. However, USC made only seven of 34 three-point attempts.