SAN JUAN, P.R. -- Timeouts are a crucial opportunity for coaches to prepare basketball teams for late-game situations.
Richard Pitino thought he had that opportunity down the stretch in Thursday's 75-70 loss to Temple in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off's first round.
Turns out he didn't.
The Gophers' third-year coach signaled for a timeout after Nate Mason's two free throws cut Minnesota's deficit to 71-68 with 27 seconds left, and the officials gave it to him. But the scorekeepers told him Minnesota had no more timeouts.
"They told us we had two timeouts," Pitino said. "We went to the table to check.