CHICAGO — The last time Nate Mason faced Rutgers, he was making only the second start of his college basketball career. That was in January.
The freshman guard has gained a lot of confidence in that role since then, which he showed with 15 points and three steals in the Gophers’ 80-68 win over the Scarlet Knights in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
“I try to come out, set the tone, push the pace and get my teammates the ball but also look to my scoring,” Mason said. “I felt like I did a pretty good job of that today.”
The Gophers are hoping he can do that leading the team next season, too.
“As much as we are excited about some of the younger guys we’re bringing in, they are going to go through their lumps,” second-year Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said. “Nate Mason, in my opinion, has had a very good freshman season. He hasn’t really hit a wall at all. Most freshmen do that.”
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Decatur, Ga., native averaged 9.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game in the regular season.
Mason has a chance to finish with the best scoring average for a Minnesota freshman since Kris Humphries led the Big Ten with 21.7 points in 2003-04.
Ohio State’s DeAngelo Russell led the Big Ten scoring as a freshman this season with 20.3 points per game, and Mason is looking forward to matching up with him when the Gophers play the Buckeyes in the second round Thursday night.
“Just making his life miserable,” Mason said about what he planned to do, “try to contain him the best I can.”
Mason replaced senior DeAndre Mathieu as the starting floor leader seven times this season. Four-star point guard recruit Kevin Dorsey from Virginia will likely cause Mason to move to shooting guard next season, but it’ll be hard for Dorsey to match what Mason did in his first season.
Mason was overshadowed by some of the Big Ten’s top freshmen: Russell, Maryland’s Melo Trimble and Indiana’s James Blackmon. Northwestern’s Bryant McIntosh and Ohio State’s Jae’Sean Tate rounded out the conference’s all-freshman team.
Pitino said it bothered Mason to be left off the list, so he told him to “take it out on everybody else.”
“I think he will be one of the better guards in the league,” Pitino said. “He does it in big games. That’s what’s very, very encouraging and exciting, and I thought what he really did today, he was the guy huddling everybody up, talking, communicating, so you can tell he’s trying to start doing that now, which is nice to see.”
Junior forward Joey King will be counted on next season for leadership and says he’s looking forward to sharing that role with Mason.
“His court presence this year, you could really feel it even as a freshman,” King said. “I’m sure he’ll take the next step this summer.”
Rick Pitino’s talk
Rick Pitino, Richard’s father and head coach at Louisville, attended the Gophers’ game with his wife, Joanne.
His Cardinals open Atlantic Coast Conference tournament play Thursday afternoon against North Carolina in Greensboro, N.C.
But the Hall of Fame coach sent a text message to his son saying he wanted to talk to the Gophers before the game. He hadn’t spoken to them since Minnesota lost to Louisville in Puerto Rico in November.
“It was a little weird,” Richard Pitino said. “I think he felt bad because I said, ‘You haven’t been to one of my games this year.’ So it was nice of him to come. … I said, ‘Where were you at Wisconsin? Could we have gotten you then?’ ”
Briefly
Members of the Gophers’ student fan club, the Barnyard, did not make the trip to the Big Ten tournament because of a lack of money. In years past, the group was able to buy discounted student tickets for all sessions other than when Minnesota plays. But it wasn’t able to strike that deal this year. … Carlos Morris, who scored 16 points and went 8 for 8 on free throws, started for the first time in seven games in place of Charles Buggs.
