Gophers Get Good News, Bad News: Minnesota can be happy about the return of senior swingman Vincent Grier, who scored 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting to lead the Gophers to a 72-67 win against UNLV yesterday. Grier had missed the early stages of the season, which included a bad loss to Gardner Webb at home. Although the Bulldogs are favored to win the Atlantic Sun, it’s still a bad loss for a Big Ten team that originally had high expectations.
The bad news for Minnesota, however, is that coach Dan Monson said freshman guard Kevin Payton will likely sit out the season as a medical redshirt. Payton has been slow to recover from a shoulder injury he first suffered in February during his high school senior year and again injured during this past summer. With a medical redshirt, Payton will not lose this year of eligibility, so he has four good years to look forward to in Minneapolis.
[12/11/05]
