Pitino, Minnesota take down SMU

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Richard Pitino held his 3-year-old daughter in his arms as his Minnesota team cut down the net at Madison Square Garden.

“Richard, get up there!” yelled his famous father, Rick, the Hall of Fame coach at Louisville.

First, the kid had others in mind.

“The assistants!” he shouted back.

Spoken like a coach who listened closely at the dinner table and ate up every last lesson.

Austin Hollins hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 46.1 seconds left and Minnesota won the NIT championship Thursday night, beating SMU, 65-63, to give the Pitino family its latest postseason tournament title.

Hollins scored 19 points and Andre Hollins had 14 for the Golden Gophers (25-13), who took home the trophy for the third time. They also won the National Invitation Tournament in 1993 and ‘98, though the second one was vacated because of an NCAA rules violation involving player eligibility.

“We made some big-time plays,” Richard Pitino said. “Austin made a big-time 3. We gutted it out. That is a very good team. They’re a really good team. They deserve to be in the NCAA tournament. I’m really proud of our guys. I’m so happy for our seniors. They get to walk off this court with a win.”

With Rick Pitino sitting near his son’s bench at Madison Square Garden, Minnesota made up for a blowout loss to Stanford in the NIT final two years ago and finished with a flourish in its first season under the 31-year-old Pitino.

“I think it’s one of the highlights of my life,” Rick Pitino said on the court afterward. “He’s a brilliant young man.”

After dad was knocked out of the NCAAs last week when the defending champion Cardinals were beaten by rival Kentucky in the Sweet 16, it was left to the younger Pitino to bring home a title in April.

That’s exactly what he did, defeating SMU and Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown — old enough to be his grandfather.

“It was a character win,” Richard Pitino said.

Nic Moore had 17 points and Nick Russell added 15 for the Mustangs, who led by seven with less than 6 minutes to play.

“Got to give a lot of credit to Richard and his team,” Brown said. “They were really well prepared. Got down seven and I thought he got their kids to dig in a little bit. We didn’t handle prosperity very well. Had some terrible turnovers in the guts of the game, and I think it turned the game around.”

Andre Hollins hit three of four free throws in the final 16.3 seconds to keep help keep Minnesota in front. DeAndre Mathieu scored all 13 his points in the second half for the Gophers.

Austin Hollins was selected the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

“Ah, man it feels great,” he said. “It’s a blessing to be able to finish the season on a win. Few teams get to do that.”