Michigan basketball team will deal with a trio of Minnesota shot blockers
MINNEAPOLIS - When Minnesota basketball coach Tubby Smith first had Ralph Sampson III on campus before last season, he was out of shape.
The son of one of the greatest college basketball players of all-time - former Virginia forward and No. 1 NBA Draft pick Ralph Sampson II - needed to play for the Gophers because of his potential and his length, but he wasn’t able to do so in long spurts.
Minnesota's Ralph Sampson III, left, dunks in front of Northwestern's John Shurna in a January game. Sampson and Minnesota play host to Michigan on Thursday in a 7 p.m. game. (Photo: Associated Press)
Now, it’s not completely where Smith wants it to be, but it’s enough to make Sampson a critical part of Minnesota’s push to reach the NCAA tournament.
“He’s huge,” Smith said. “The things he’s doing, getting double-doubles and clogging up the middle and blocking shots. I think some time perimeter guys will, he reminds me of a Chuck Hayes with his basketball IQ defensively. He’s in the right spot, usually. He’s really trying to make a play there, and he covers up for a lot of defensive mistakes.”
Sampson averaged 15 minutes a game as a freshman last year. He’s up to 25.2 minutes this season and averages 8.3 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds per game. He also has 42 blocks.
Sampson is among a trio of Minnesota players who will harass Michigan (11-12 overall, 4-7 Big Ten) and alter the visiting Wolverines’ shots today (7 p.m., ESPN). If there is one thing that stands out about the Gophers, it is their length.
Sampson is 6-foot-11. Senior forward Damian Johnson is 6-7 but has a long wingspan and leads Minnesota (14-8, 5-5) in blocks with 45. Off the bench, sophomore Colton Iverson adds depth and another player who can alter a game when he spells Sampson.
“They have a tremendous inside presence there between Sampson and Iverson and then just Damian Johnson, who is just so long,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. The turnovers, they’ll create turnovers. It’s usually been pretty good for us, but against Northwestern here we had 18 of them. They present challenges just in the way they play. They are playing smaller right now, but they are creating a lot of havoc with a lot of people.
“Whereever they are playing the four-man right now is really long, and then they have the two big guys that present problems.”
Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.