Old Spice Classic Championship: Dayton Tops Shorthanded Gophers 86-70

The Minnesota Golden Gophers were never able to overcome the loss of forward Trevor Mbakwe Sunday night, as they fell 86-70 to the Dayton Flyers in the championship game of the Old Spice Classic in Orlando. Mbakwe had nine points and four rebounds before leaving the game in the second half when his right knee buckled. He later returned courtside on crutches and his own Twitter account did not seem to bear good news:

TMbakwe32 Trevor Mbakwe Lord please get me through this

Mbakwe still made the all-tournament team, but the Gophers allowed five Dayton players to reach double figures lead by Kevin Dillard with 19 points. Chris Johnson had 18 for hte Flyers, while Josh Benson had 16.

The Golden Gophers were led by 12 points from Julian Welch and 14 points from Austin Hollins, but they were never able to recover from when Mbakwe went down with 18:35 left in the game and the Gophers trailing 39-30. Maverick Ahanmisi also had 10 points for the Gophers.

Old Spice Classic: Trevor Mbakwe Leaves With Injury

The Minnesota Golden Gophers cannot afford to lose All-America candidate and star forward Trevor Mbakwe, but it appears he may be out for some time after he was injured sunday evening during the championship game of the Old Spice Classic against the Dayton Flyers.

Mbakwe appeared to injure his right knee in the second half of Minnesota's game with the Flyers according to ESPN 1500:

Caught by defender in the post, Mbakwe's knee buckled from underneath him as he collapsed to the ground in immense pain. After being looked at on the court by team trainers, teammates Oto Osenieks and Chris Halvorson slowly walked him to the locker room.

Mbakwe later returned to the Gophers' bench, where he sat with his head down and a large bag of ice on the knee. A few minutes later he exited again to the locker room -- this time on crutches.

Mbakwe is a projected lottery pick in the 2012 NBA Draft and was named a Third Team Preseason All-American. Dayton leads Minnesota 74-59 late in the second half in Orlando.

Minnesota Vs. Indiana State Final Score: Golden Gophers Come Back, Win 76-69

Though the Minnesota Golden Gophers finished the first half of their game against the Indiana State Sycamores, they rallied nicely in the second half to take the lead, outscoring Indiana State in the final half. Minnesota trailed 40-33 after one half, and actually trailed for a good bit in the second half, but started lighting it up with about six minutes left. Indiana State started to look like they might come back, but with the clock running out, Chip Armelin made a free throw that put the game out of reach, with Minnesota taking a 76-69 win.

Minnesota outscored Indiana State 43-29 in the second half, which was the deciding factor in the game. Julian Welch, off the bench, led the way for Minnesota with 17 points, six rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block. Welch played 22 minutes and was 5 for 8 on his shots, making his lone three point attempt. He was 6 for 6 on his free throw attempts. Jake Odum led the way for Indiana State, with 30 minutes on the court, 13 points, three rebounds, seven assists and two steals. He was 5 for 9 and was 2 for 4 in his free throws.

Minnesota moves to 6-0 on the season, while Indiana State goes to 5-1. Next, Minnesota will take on Virginia Tech

College Basketball Schedule, TV Times And More: Minnesota Looking To Finish Old Spice Classic

For more on the Golden Gophers, visit SB Nation's The Daily Gopher.

Old Spice Classic: Minnesota Holds On To Beat DePaul, 86-85

The Minnesota Golden Gophers certainly made it interesting in their opening round match-up of the Old Spice Classic, but they managed to hold on at the end to defeat the DePaul Blue Demons by a final score of 86-85 in Orlando, Florida on Thanksgiving Day.

Rodney Williams led the way for the Golden Gophers with 18 points on the afternoon, and Trevor Mbakwe chipped in with 16 points and 12 rebounds. DePaul's Brandon Young led all scorers with 23 points.

Minnesota trailed in this one by ten at the halftime break, 43-33, and the deficit grew to as much as 12 early in the second half. But the Gophers fought their way back, finally taking the lead at the 7:24 mark on a pair of free throws by Mbakwe made the score 74-73. Minnesota held a 84-83 lead with one minute to play, but after Austin Hollins missed a three pointer with the shot clock running down, Mbakwe. . .playing with four fouls. . .took a huge charge from DePaul's Cleveland Melvin on a drive to the basket to keep the one-point lead intact.

At the other end, Julian Welch missed a pair of free throws, but Rodney Williams was the man on the spot once again, snagging the offensive rebound and putting it back in to give Minnesota an 86-83 lead. DePaul came down the floor looking to tie, and Moses Morgan missed a three-point attempt. Krys Faber got the offensive rebound and scored what turned out to be a meaningless putback basket, as the time expired and the Gophers got out with an 86-85 victory.

Minnesota will play the Indiana State Sycamores in the Old Spice Classic semi-finals on Friday.

Old Spice Classic: Minnesota Favored To Win In Orlando

The Old Spice Classic is quickly becoming one of ESPN's premier "Feast Week" tournaments, as the "worldwide Leader" will televise all 12 games live from Orlando. The Minnesota Golden Gophers are invited to this year's affair,w here they will open on the afternoon of Thanksgiving against the DePaul Blue Demons. ESPN's writers pick the Gophers as a heavy favorite to win the tournament which features only one team that played in last year's NCAA Tournament:

Don’t be surprised …
... if Trevor Mbakwe averages a double-double and wins the Old Spice's MVP Award. (Fraschilla)
... if a complete wild-card comes out of the bottom part of the bracket. Fairfield has the most talent, but has struggled so far this season. But Dayton, Wake Forest or Arizona State haven't exactly inspired a lot of confidence either. (Katz)
... if Indiana State ends up in the title game. A first-round victory against Texas Tech and a semifinal win against Minnesota are both doable. (King)

The Indiana State Sycamores are the lone team in the field that made last season's NCAA Tournament. They were the surprise winners of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, but they lost in the first round of the NCAA's to Syracuse.

Minnesota Vs. Mount St. Mary's: Golden Gophers Cruise To Another Win

The Minnesota Golden Gophers stayed undefeated with an 85-56 win against the overwhelmed Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers on Monday night.

Five players hit double figures for the Golden Gophers, who only really needed half of the game to prove their superiority, taking a 51-18 lead into the halftime break. Even while Minnesota stepped off the gas a bit in the second half, the 29-point win secured a fourth straight double-digit victory to improve the team to 4-0 on the season.

Rodney Williams made 5-5 shots from the field and scored 12 points on a night when Minnesota shot 50.0 % from the field overall. Both Hollins' also excelled for Minnesota -- Austin Hollins led all scorers with 14 points and Andre Hollins added 13 for the balanced Golden Gophers at Williams Arena.

The road is about to get a bit more difficult for Tubby Smith's crew, as they travel to take on DePaul in Old Spice Classic tournament on Thanksgiving Day. The Blue Demons are 2-0 this season.

Minnesota Vs. Mount St. Mary's: Time, Online Stream, Preview And More

The Minnesota Golden Gophers will play in the Old Spice Classic tournament later this week, but they have one final tune-up on Monday night before heading south. The Gophers will host the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers in a game that will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Digital Network when the game tips off at 7 p.m. Central Time.

The Gophers are undefeated through their first three games this season after defeating Bucknell, South Dakota State and Fairfield by double-digits to open the season. Mount St. Mary's should provide a similar result, too, as they opened the season with 91-37 loss to Marquette and dropped their home-opener to Siena over the weekend.

Tubby Smith's team has been led by Trevor Mbakwe as the senior big man enters Monday night's game with averages of 18 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks through the first three games of the season. Ralph Sampson III is second on the team in scoring with 8.7 points, but he's struggled a bit -- despite playing smaller competition -- as he's averaging just 4.7 rebounds.

The Mountaineers are hobbled by the loss of Lamar Trice and big man Kristijan Krajina as they are both suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. Mount St. Mary's still has four players around 10 points, however, with Julian Norfleet, Josh Castellanos, Raven Barber and Danny Thompson averaging between nine and 12 points per game. 

Following Monday night's game, the Golden Gophers will head to Florida as they prepare to play DePaul in the opener of the Old Spice Classic on Thursday.

College Basketball Schedule, TV Times And More: Golden Gophers Off To Orlando

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