SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO – Several years back, then-Gophers men's basketball coach Tubby Smith scheduled his Gophers to play in the 2015 Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Now, Smith is back on the island with a different team — his young Texas Tech squad.
But 2½ years after his exodus, Smith will still get some court time with the maroon and gold — and a chance to show up his successor in a venue where history says he's got the upper hand. His old team looks much different now, with Charles Buggs the only holdover recruited by Smith. Still, the reunion won't be all foreign.
"Richard Pitino I've known since he was maybe 6 years old," Smith said with a chuckle after earning a matchup with his old team Friday, when the Gophers narrowly slid by Missouri State 74-69 at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off hours before Texas Tech held off Mississippi State 74-72. "And guys like Charles Buggs and [Joey] King. We know a lot of people up there, so it will be good to see some familiar faces from Minneapolis."
There was a 1-in-4 chance the Gophers would meet up with their former coach, and the stars aligned for that opportunity. Both the Gophers and Texas Tech lost their first game at Roberto Clemente Coliseum on Thursday before winning their second.
Texas Tech forced 14 turnovers and held off a late Bulldogs surge hours after the Gophers let an 18-point lead fritter away in the final minutes as they piled up 22 fouls and faltered against the Bears' zone.
Missouri State went to the free-throw line 37 times, making 26, but Carlos Morris hit a big three-pointer for a 70-64 lead with 2 minutes, 35 seconds to go and Kevin Dorsey went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final minute.
"I think maybe we abandoned our defensive principles a little bit, got a little spread out," Pitino said. "We didn't have a whole lot of time. We had to choose between rest and working on some things, and we had to go with rest."
The two games? Kind of similar. But Smith and Pitino's recent coaching track records in holiday tournaments is distinct.