HHS alumnus Amir Coffey leads gophers to end of season hot streak with tournament birth on the line

In his third season with the Minnesota Gopher, Hopkins High School Alum, Amir Coffey, is leading the Gophers through the regular season and in the late push for the NCAA tournament.

Coffey led the Royals to a state championship in his senior year while averaging 19.9 points per game, according to mnbasketballhub. After this season, Coffey committed to stay in his hometown and play for Richard Pitino and the Gophers.

Even as a freshman, Coffey was put into immediate use into the Gophers system and averaged 12.2 points per game. Coffey continued to grow his game in his sophomore season improving his points per game, field goal percentage, and three-point shooting, according to ESPN. He was scoring 14 points per game while shooting .475 and .368, respectively.

Going into his third season, Coffey had to take up a bigger role with the team and be a consistent top scorer for the Gophers. While using his ability to get to the rim and his dominant left-hand, Coffey is leading the Gophers in points per game with 15.8 points. Fellow star, Jordan Murphy, senior, is close behind with 14.5 points per game.

Coffey has definitely had his ups and downs this season and has left fans with mixed emotions. He had his games of dominance but also had games where he was nowhere to be seen. Coffey was held to single digits six different times this season, and five of them were during conference play.

If the Gophers want to be the dangerous team they can be, Coffey needs to make sure he is more consistent in games when they matter. He did just that in back-to-back games. After the Gophers had dropped six of their last seven and were on the brink of being eliminated from the tournament, Coffey dropped 32 points, tied for his career high, against Northwestern and Purdue.

When the Gophers needed Coffey the most, he delivered for the team and the fans. Coffey had a game full of highlights and clutch plays. In the final game of the season in Williams arena, Coffey was able to cap off an exciting senior night against Purdue.

Seniors Dupree McBrayer, Murphy, Brock Stull, and Matz Stockman gave all they could in their final game ever in the barn. McBrayer scored 10 points, had four assists and grabbed four rebounds, Murphy earned his 20th double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds and Stull scored four points while grabbing six boards.

Stockman, however, played a crucial role off the bench with Eric Curry being out for the rest of the season with a foot injury. Stockman scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds, but the story was with his seven blocks.

Though the seniors played their hearts out, it was Coffey who closed the game out. After he went 1-4 in free throws in two trips, he was able to ice the game by hitting both his free throws with under three seconds left.

After his last one rattled in, Coffey didn’t put his hand down until the buzzer sounded, the fans poured onto the court, and the Gophers, most likely, punched their ticket into the tournament. This hopefully will be Coffey’s second appearance in the tournament, his first being in his freshman year when they were ranked fifth and fell to the 12th ranked Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.

Coffey and the Gophers finish the regular season on Fri., Mar. 8 against Maryland and then play in the Big Ten tournament before the NCAA tournament gets going.