Gophers offensive struggles continue at Penn State 67-46

By: Tony Liebert |
Feb. 17, 2021: Minnesota’s offense did not show up in a rare mid-afternoon tip-off against Penn State, resulting in 67-46 loss.

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Full Game Recap:

  • First Half: It was a slow start for the Gophers, going 0-4 from the field, but Payton Willis scored five quick points (his same total against Ohio St.) and Penn State led 6-5 heading into the first media timeout. The Gophers continued to struggle to even buy a basket, but a 6-0 run before the under eight-minute timeout cut the Nittany Lions’ lead to 11-18. After scoring his 1,000th career collegiate point, Jamison Battle quickly grew his total to seven and Minnesota trailed only 21-16 with five minutes to go. A dominant first half in the paint for Penn State continued, outscoring the Gophers 16-4 and Minnesota trailed 27-19 at the half.

  • Second Half: Battle came out of the locker room ready to play, but it didn’t seem like anyone else did. His six points were all the Gophers had as they trailed 36-25 heading into the first media timeout of the half. The Gophers got a pair of big threes from E.J. Stephens and Luke Loewe, but that was about all they could find, as a layup from Battle at the 13:07 mark was their first two-point field goal of the half. Penn State led 47-33 with 11:51 to go. Things only got worse for the Gophers. A 15-2 run was stopped by Eric Curry‘s first point of the game around the nine-minute mark. The Gophers trailed 57-34 with eight minutes to go. There were just zero positives to take from the final 8 minutes of that game, and the Gophers fell 67-46.

Instant Reaction & Takeaways:

This team has begun to play like one that only returned one healthy player from a season ago; something that was not the case for the first two months of the season. The last two weeks have been terrible, to put it bluntly, and today was no different. There was zero rhythm offensively, and the Gophers looked confused and lost. For much of the game, only four players in the Maroon & Gold scored a point, you simply cannot win games doing that. When your starters don’t have it a typical team looks at its bench for production and the Gophers do not have that luxury, they do not have a bench.
Eric Curry and Payton Willis have combined for 13 points over the last two games. This team simply cannot overcome their two veteran leaders not producing offensively. Preseason, everyone could see that this team did not have the talent to seriously compete in the Big Ten, and it has shown over the last two weeks.

What is Next?:

The Gophers have five Big Ten regular-season games this season and the Big Ten tournament is only 20 days away. If you asked me a few weeks ago, I would say that almost all five are seriously winnable, but I do not know if that is the case right now. There is still a chance for them to carry some momentum into March and pull themselves out of the bottom four of the conference and day one of the Big Ten tournament, but I would highly doubt that at this point to be honest.

– v. Northwestern
– v. Wisconsin
– v. Indiana
– @ Maryland
– @ Northwestern

Based on how this season started, many would-be disappointed by the last two weeks, but sometimes you have to step back and look at the personnel that Ben Johnson is working with. There is still some time for him to carry some momentum into next season, and I still believe that this ship is sailing in the right direction, everyone just needs to be patient.

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