The University of Washington Men’s basketball team’s (4-2) education continued Wednesday afternoon in the title game of the inaugural Vancouver Showcase Basketball Tournament. The lesson learned for the Huskies is that if you leave the outcome of a basketball game to fate or in this case chance anything can and more times than not will.
Minnesota (5-0) freshman Gabe Kai Kalscheur hit an off-balance three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in the game for the game-winner and gave the Gophers the tournament title.
“The way that he shot it I don’t know if I envisioned that. But he’s a great kid, he deserves success and sometimes you just have to get lucky. We haven’t been really lucky around here,” Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino said after the game.
The game was what you would expect from two teams who were playing their third game in four days. A sloppy first half which Washington led by a score of 25 to 20. The Huskies looked to have the game in hand when they held a nine-point lead at 34-25 but a10-1 run by the Gophers brought them back into the contest.
After that, the two teams mustered determination and commitment they both found strength in their legs and the game turned out to be a back and forth affair the all the way to the final buzzer. Husky forward Noah Dickerson scored 28 points to match his career high in points while Pac-12 player of the week Jaylen Nowell scored 22 points as the only Huskies to hit double figures.
Jordan Murphy led Minnesota with 18 second-half points and 11 rebounds. Amir Coffey added 17 points and Kalscheur finished with nine points. Kalscheur scored 25 points in the Gophers win over Santa Clara but was scoreless against the Huskies until his corner 3 pointer with 7:37 left in the game.
“The ball stopped. We didn’t get a lot of flow, didn’t get a lot of movement,” Washington coach Mike Hopkins said of the offensive issues late. “They were killing us inside and then they were just beating us down court later in the game. We still had the one-point lead. … We’ve got to learn from it and move forward.”
