VICTORIA - The Minnesota Golden Gophers, who have made two straight NCAA tournament appearances under Tubby Smith, completed their sweep over Canadian competition with a 101-67 victory over the UVic Vikes men's basketball team.

BOXSCORE

Former Canadian Junior National team member Devoe Joseph led the Gophers in scoring for a third straight game, providing 19 points on 7-11 shooting. The native of Pickering, Ont. hit four three-pointers in the second half, and Minnesota shot 60 percent from the field to blow open their lead.

"We couldn't guard their motion offence in the first half. We were really having a lot of problems. Five different guys hit three pointers against us and we actually had to go to the zone to curtail some that," said Smith who won a national title with Kentucky in 1998.

It was a strong opening stanza for the Vikes, who playing off the energy of a near-capacity 1,800 crowd at McKinnon Gym, stunned the Gophers with a nine-point lead in the first. It was the first time Minnesota trailed at any point in their three-game tour, which also included wins over UBC (80-62) and Trinity Western (80-68).

Senior guard #Ryan MacKinnon# sparked the first half performance, scoring 11 of his 12 points on the game. #Jeff Cullen# finished with the Vikes scoring high, netting 13 points on 5-10 shooting. The Vikes made 36.2 percent of their shots from the field, and finished with 10 three-pointers including a pair from rookie #Ted Neilson#.

Gophers' leading returning scorer from last year, Blake Hoffarber, was good for 19 points, including 5-10 from long range. Projected NBA Draft lottery pick Rodney Williams scored 12 points, and added a pair of YouTube-worthy dunks in the second quarter, the later of which gave Minnesota their first lead of the game at 4:54.

With eight weeks to go before playing a meaningful game, Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp used the match as an opportunity to exercise the new offence and get a look at some of his new talent. "We competed hard and did a reasonable job of running our new Princeton offence. This was a trial by fire for us, evaluating players and not too focused on results."

NOTES: UVic's last victory against an NCAA opponent came on Sept. 4, 2007, with a 73-61 victory over UC-Santa Barbara… Canada West conference play begins Oct. 22 with the Vikes hosting Calgary… Minnesota's season resumes Nov. 17 when they host Wofford, with Big Ten play not beginning until Dec. 28 at Wisconsin.