Minnesota Sports Briefs: U one win away from NIT Final Four

• Minnesota Golden Gophers

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Talk about it

(Murfreesboro, TN) -- The University of Minnesota men's basketball team plays at Middle Tennessee tonight in the NIT quarterfinals (Wed 6 p.m.).

The Gophers advanced with a 78-60 win at Miami while the Blue Raiders rallied past Tennessee 71-64 in Knoxville. Memphis area natives Andre and Austin Hollins expect to have lots of friends and family in the stands in Murfreesboro. Middle Tennessee is on a 13-game home winning streak. The winner of tonight's game moves on to the NIT Final Four next week at Madison Square Garden in New York.

_________________________________________________________________________

The Minnesota Timberwolves continue their seven-game road trip tonight in San Antonio (Wed 7:30 p.m.). The Wolves snapped a three-game losing streak with a 97-93 victory at Golden State on Monday. Minnesota has beaten the Spurs twice this season at home but San Antonio has won the last 14 meetings at AT&T Center. The Spurs have been off since Saturday's loss at Dallas and should be well rested. Meanwhile, the Wolves limp into their sixth of seven games away from Target Center. Nikola Pekovic is battling a sprained ankle, Michael Beasley has a sore toe and J.J. Barea has an injured finger.

_________________________________________________________________________

The 2012 State Boys' Basketball Tournament gets under way this (Wed) morning with the Class 4A and 3A quarterfinals. Three-time defending 4A champ Hopkins plays Woodbury at Target Center (10 a.m.) and Roccori-Cold Spring and Minneapolis Washburn meet in the 3A opening game at Williams Arena (10 a.m.). Perham looks to defend its 2011 Class 2A championship against Worthington in the quarterfinals tonight at Target Center(6 p.m.). The Class 1A quarterfinals begin Thursday morning at Williams Arena (11 a.m.). This is the 100th year of the boys' state tournament which began at Carleton College in Northfield in 1913.

_________________________________________________________________________

Boston University is preparing for its NCAA West Regional match-up with the Gophers at the Xcel Energy Center. BU coach Jack Parker says they expect to have a few fans in green and white rooting for the Terriers Saturday in St.Paul. He expects Minnesota to be hungry after losing to North Dakota in the WCHA Final Five and he's sure the Golden Gophers will want to take it out on them. Parker says Minnesota's Kent Patterson is a terrific goaltender and the backbone of the team. The Gophers and Terriers split a pair of regular season games at Boston U in 2005. Face-off is schedule for 4:30 p.m.

_________________________________________________________________________

Minnesota Duluth men's hockey player J.T. Brown has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges that stemmed from an incident during last summer's Grandma's Marathon. The criminal complaint says then 20-year-old Brown gave police another man's driver's license when he entered a Duluth bar on June 18th and then tried to flee the scene on foot. Sentencing is scheduled for July 11th. Brown and the defending champion Bulldogs open the NCAA Northeast Regional Saturday against Maine. Brown is the son of former Vikings running back Ted Brown.

Tags: minnesota sports, proam, sports, prep