Game 8: Gophers Host Incarnate Word (12-5-18)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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What's Interesting about Incarnate Word?

Like most fans a few years ago I had the same question, “why is the University of the Incarnate Word showing up on D1 schedules and where is it located?” We quickly learned that the newly minted D1 program called San Antonio home and represented an assured non-conference win. The school, founded in 1881 by the Sisters of Charity as Incarnate Word College, eventually evolved into the University of the Incarnate Word in 1996.

The more pertinent history, for us, concerns the Cardinals (0-8) athletic program. Pursuing D1 status, UIW joined the Southland Conference in 2013-14 and became eligible for Division 1 championships in 2017-18. Their Southland Conference records since entry are 2-12, 2-16, 3-15, 7-11 concluding with last season when they finished 4-14 (5-24 overall). This year the Cardinals were projected 12th in the 13 team league ahead of only Sam Houston State.

Here are three items of interest:

Jaidah Stewart: The former Gopher recruit played 3 minutes with 2 points and 1 rebound for Houston in the Cougars 76-60 win over UIW. There really hasn’t been much going on with what was Stollings last Minnesota recruiting class. (Lesila Finau at Colorado in six games and 28 minutes has 9 points, 1 assist and 5 turnovers; however, Byrne did play 12 minutes with 2 points and 2 rebounds versus Air Force).

Angelica Wiggens: Yes , she is THAT Wiggens; sister. She’s from Toronto, competed a year for Hopkins before walking on at Moberly Area Community College. Following two years at Moberly she enrolled at UIC. (Three UIW players played at Moberly-it’s in Moberly Missouri in case you’re wondering). From the UIW Bio:

Wiggins is the daughter of Marita and Mitchell Wiggins. She is the fifth of six kids: Mitchell, Nick, Stephanie, Andrew and Taya. Her family has a strong history of athletic prowess. Both her parents were college athletes at Florida State. Her mother went on to win the Silver medal in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays for Team Canada at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Her father was drafted into the NBA, spending time on the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers. She is the third of her siblings to play Division 1 basketball. Her older brother Nick played for Wichita State, while her other older brother Andrew, played at Kansas and was selected No.1 overall in the 2014 NBA draft. He currently plays professionally for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Christy Smith Head Coach: Is in her 3rd season leading the Cardinals. Smith, an Arkansas alum, was an assistant at Purdue for three seasons beginning in 2011-13. Like Whalen, Smith led Arkansas to the NCAA final four (1998) as a point guard. She also spent two seasons in the WNBA with the Charlotte Sting. Before coming to Incarnate Word, Smith was part of the failed Jimmy Dykes experiment at Arkansas.


Losses: @ Arizona State 43-81, @ Grand Canyon 63-74, @ South Dakota 46-96, Houston 60-76, @ San Diego 38-81, Weber State 64-72, @ Arizona 42-84, UT Arlington 49-97.


Projected Starters (points are through 7 games):

5’9” G Jr. Angelica Wiggens 8.0 points/game
5’11” G Jr. Imani Robinson 8.3 ppg
6’1” F Jr. Lunden Henry 8.6 ppg
5’10” F Fr Omozee Starr 9.3 ppg
5’8” G Sr. Gabbi Bowie 3.7 ppg
 

This will be a good game to get the younger players on the court.

I hope that Mercedes Staples get her mojo. This is a chance for Barbora Tomacova and Delaynie Byrne to get their feet wet. They'll be needed down the stretch.
 

The game at Boston College next Sunday is another big test with a big target on their backs after the rankings come out.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
What's Interesting about Incarnate Word?

Like most fans a few years ago I had the same question, “why is the University of the Incarnate Word showing up on D1 schedules and where is it located?” We quickly learned that the newly minted D1 program called San Antonio home and represented an assured non-conference win. The school, founded in 1881 by the Sisters of Charity as Incarnate Word College, eventually evolved into the University of the Incarnate Word in 1996.

The more pertinent history, for us, concerns the Cardinals (0-8) athletic program. Pursuing D1 status, UIW joined the Southland Conference in 2013-14 and became eligible for Division 1 championships in 2017-18. Their Southland Conference records since entry are 2-12, 2-16, 3-15, 7-11 concluding with last season when they finished 4-14 (5-24 overall). This year the Cardinals were projected 12th in the 13 team league ahead of only Sam Houston State.

Here are three items of interest:

Jaidah Stewart: The former Gopher recruit played 3 minutes with 2 points and 1 rebound for Houston in the Cougars 76-60 win over UIW. There really hasn’t been much going on with what was Stollings last Minnesota recruiting class. (Lesila Finau at Colorado in six games and 28 minutes has 9 points, 1 assist and 5 turnovers; however, Byrne did play 12 minutes with 2 points and 2 rebounds versus Air Force).

Angelica Wiggens: Yes , she is THAT Wiggens; sister. She’s from Toronto, competed a year for Hopkins before walking on at Moberly Area Community College. Following two years at Moberly she enrolled at UIC. (Three UIW players played at Moberly-it’s in Moberly Missouri in case you’re wondering). From the UIW Bio:

Wiggins is the daughter of Marita and Mitchell Wiggins. She is the fifth of six kids: Mitchell, Nick, Stephanie, Andrew and Taya. Her family has a strong history of athletic prowess. Both her parents were college athletes at Florida State. Her mother went on to win the Silver medal in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays for Team Canada at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Her father was drafted into the NBA, spending time on the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers. She is the third of her siblings to play Division 1 basketball. Her older brother Nick played for Wichita State, while her other older brother Andrew, played at Kansas and was selected No.1 overall in the 2014 NBA draft. He currently plays professionally for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Christy Smith Head Coach: Is in her 3rd season leading the Cardinals. Smith, an Arkansas alum, was an assistant at Purdue for three seasons beginning in 2011-13. Like Whalen, Smith led Arkansas to the NCAA final four (1998) as a point guard. She also spent two seasons in the WNBA with the Charlotte Sting. Before coming to Incarnate Word, Smith was part of the failed Jimmy Dykes experiment at Arkansas.


Losses: @ Arizona State 43-81, @ Grand Canyon 63-74, @ South Dakota 46-96, Houston 60-76, @ San Diego 38-81, Weber State 64-72, @ Arizona 42-84, UT Arlington 49-97.


Projected Starters (points are through 7 games):

5’9” G Jr. Angelica Wiggens 8.0 points/game
5’11” G Jr. Imani Robinson 8.3 ppg
6’1” F Jr. Lunden Henry 8.6 ppg
5’10” F Fr Omozee Starr 9.3 ppg
5’8” G Sr. Gabbi Bowie 3.7 ppg
Click to expand...


Incarnate Word is currently on an extended ATM tour, collecting cash along the way for their efforts. Among the previous donors are Arizona State, San Diego State and Arizona. They are fairly quick and have nice uniforms but have little else to offer. In boxing I think the term for such an opponent may have been 'laydowner' which they most certainly are. I saw their game at South Dakota a couple of weeks ago. The Gophers need to win by 30, even if the starters play less than half their normal allotment.
 

Honestly, you should write the previews for Gopher sports. This is better than 95% of what I get from them, maybe better than 100%.
 



You know on election night when they call a race the instant the polls close? I’ll do that now. 7-0 start and I’m calling it. Whalen improves to 8-0 in her career. Nice midday win.
 

Yikes. One Incarnate Word field goal in the first quarter. 15-4
 




The 2nd quarters starters:

Brunson
Garrido Perez
Staples
Byrne
K. Bello
 



I don’t have BTN plus. What an odd start time for a game. Is attendance going to be retirees only? On a more serious note. How does the team look against a cupcake? This should be more like a scrimmage, ugh.
 



Flash30 said:
I don’t have BTN plus. What an odd start time for a game. Is attendance going to be retirees only? On a more serious note. How does the team look against a cupcake? This should be more like a scrimmage, ugh.
Click to expand...

Annual school field trip game.
 

Nice bench scoring - 28 pts.:
Mercedes Staples - 11 pts.
Barbora Tomancova - 5 pts.
Kehinde Bello - 6 pts.
Irene Garrido Perez - 4 pts.

Playing Time By Incoming Freshmen:
Mercedes Staples - 24 mins.
Delaynie Byrne - 15 mins.
Barbora Tomancova - 14 mins.

More Individual Game Stats:
https://gophersports.com/sidearmstats/wbball/individual;team=home
 
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Perfect on free throws (9/9) and 42% on 3s. Two solid numbers. Hopefully that becomes more of the norm! Probably too many turnovers but games like this are weird. So open and free because it was never really in doubt.
 

The Hubbard Watch: During pre-game warm ups Gadiva was seated on the court in front of the bench with, instead of a boot or a shoe, an ice bag on her right foot. When the team emerged from the tunnel at the 4:00 minute mark, Gadiva was wearing her sneakers but was walking more gingerly than the previous game.

Minutes were spread around during the game:

24 Staples
23 Bell
23 Pitts
22 Brunson
20 T Bello
18 Garrido-Perez
17 Lamke
15 Byrne
14 Tomancova
13 K Bello
11 Kaposi

Lots of work on inside play, three point time, inside out passing and plenty of time given to Mercedes to run the point. She's looking more and more comfortable; although she get the ball simply grabbed away from her in the fourth quarter.
 

I'd guess Hubbard worked out pre-game and did some on court stuff. Icing afterwards makes sense. So does walking gingerly. No boot is a good sign. Might still be a couple weeks but with this schedule, thats OK! Need her healthy long-term.
 

Taiye picked up a couple of those bumpy, no reason to commit them, fouls; one while the clock was running down ending the first half and the other at the start of the second half. That gave her three fouls and a seat on the bench. Seeing how Taiye had three fouls (two early in the game) versus Air Force, I hope the last two games are just anomalies and she's not falling into the same silly foul trap that cost her playing time last season.
 

Again, nothing gained from games like this. This is a game that will hurt more than help when it comes to NCAA selection time. That being said, it seems that no one was injured, the reserves got plenty of PT, and Pitts hit five threes after a slow start. Still not sure how much Staples will be able to contribute this year. On the plus side, she is a confident shooter and it appears she is willing to drive to the hoop sometimes. On the negative side, she's been loose with the ball sometimes and she doesn't appear to be very quick. Time will tell. Iggy is right in pointing out Bello's "bad" fouls. While that doesn't matter in these non-competitive games, it will be important for her to stay on the court against BC and in the conference games.
 

Don't want to start a separate thread for this because there is probably not enough interest, but unlike this afternoon's Gopher game there are quite a few good matchups tonight involving BIG teams. We might have a better handle on how good some of the BIG teams are after tonight. Purdue plays at undefeated Ohio. Undefeated Butler travels to undefeated Indiana in an in-state rivalry game. Ranked Iowa entertains Iowa State (6-1). Northwestern travels to ranked DePaul in a Chicago area rivalry battle. Undefeated Kansas travels to struggling Nebraska. Ohio State at Washington.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Perfect on free throws (9/9) and 42% on 3s. Two solid numbers. Hopefully that becomes more of the norm! Probably too many turnovers but games like this are weird. So open and free because it was never really in doubt.
Click to expand...

A lot of the turnovers were from trying to force the ball to players like #2 and #20 so that they could score. Those elementary kids really know how to scream. Imagine if we had them show up for a B1G game. The rest of the crowd was primarily retirees. :cool:
 

Random comments and expansions on others comments ...

Granted, consider the in-formidible opponent, but nice to see the offense really clicking, both for the first unit and the second unit who got some good playing time.

I liked the aggressive play by Lamke to start the game - resulting in a bucket, then a faked shot and a bullet pass to Pitts for a three.

Bell free-throw shooting looking solid again, and Lamke free-throws looking solid as usual.

42.1% shooting from three, and 52.5% shooting from two.

This is the first game that we were bested on offensive rebounds, but that can be largely attributed to the fact that the Gophers left far fewer offensive rebounding opportunities due to (finally) good shooting, whereas Incarnate Word missed quite a few, giving them lots of offensive rebounding opportunities.

36 points in the paint. Might that be a record for this year so far?

The team was being very aggressive at trying to get steals (of which they got 8). To the point of sacrificing themselves to the floor on occasion.

22 assists on 29 field goals. That's gotta be some kind of record for this team. The extra pass was taken on many occasions, usually leading to a score. Team gets an A+ on sharing the ball and working to get the open shot.

UpAndUnder43 said:
You know on election night when they call a race the instant the polls close? I’ll do that now. 7-0 start and I’m calling it. Whalen improves to 8-0 in her career. Nice midday win.
Click to expand...

Wish I'd called 10-0 start. Not sure if that was it exactly, since current play-by-play web page only shows 4th quarter. But I recall it was something like that. 7-0 was a pretty close guess.

UpAndUnder's other predictions were spot on.

thatjanelpick said:
100 % free throw shooting, right? Nice work, Coach Roysland!
Click to expand...

Yeah, 9 for 9 - a solid improvement that will help us fans sleep nights with the Boston U game approaching:
Annalese Lamke 5/5
Kenisha Bell 3/3
Mercedes Staples 1/1

thatjanelpick said:
Nice to know Tomancova can shoot the three.
Click to expand...

Good to know, and also nice to see that this is maybe the first game with truly solid 3-point shooting, nearly across the entire team:
Destiny Pitts 5/9 = 55.6% for 15 points on 3s
Mercedes Staples 2/3 = 66.7% for 6 points on 3s
Barbora Tomancova 1/2 = 50% for 3 points on 3s
Brunson, Bell, Garrido Perez missed one 3 attempt each, Byrne missed two 3 attempts. In total we were 8/19 = 42.1% on 3s

hungan1 said:
Nice bench scoring - 28 pts.: ...
Click to expand...

Nice to have an opponent that permits the second unit to get some playing time, and also facilitates them getting their scoring act together (versus some earlier games in which they seemed a bit disorganized and overwhelmed). In fact, kudos to the coaches and to both the first and second units for working hard this week on offensive flow and playmaking.

Interesting bit of trivia ...
K. Bello tied T. Bello in scoring with 6 points each. Keep that sisterly competition going, and they'll both improve! They also both were rebounding at a nearly identical rate of one rebound every other minute of playing time, with Kehinde getting 6 rebounds and Taiye getting 9 rebounds due to longer minutes. Jointly, that's 15 rebounds for the Bellos. Lamke had 7 boards with a rebounding rate almost matching the Bellos.

This inspires the following tongue-in-cheek scoring summary:
Pitts 15 points
Lamke 13 points
The Bellos 12 points
Staples 11 points
Bell 9 points
Tomancova 5 points
Brunson 4 points
Garrido Perez 4 points
Kaposi 2 points
 
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https://gophersports.com/documents/2018/12/5//08_UIW_Quotes.pdf

Minnesota Head Coach Lindsay Whalen

Opening Statement:

“I thought our defense again was great all night. Annalese (Lamke) kind of set the tone for us early, we were able to get stuff going inside. Like I said our defense and our aggressiveness was there the whole night, right from the start. And you know Destiny (Pitts) hits five 3’s and as for rebounds for us, a couple assists, that was a mega 22‐assist on the team for us as a team, that was good to see. And I thought there in the third quarter there we found a really good offensive rhythm, which is good to see. All in all, a good game, and we’ll take the win and enjoy a day off tomorrow.”

On what she’s most pleased about during the team’s 8‐0 start:

“Couple things: our attention to the game plan every game plan. Whoever our assistant coaches scouted, our players have locked into that game plan, and we have done it to the best of our abilities every time. And two, whenever we see an area that we want to get better at, we’ve always responded really well. So for instance, last game weren’t happy with (eight) assists and now we get 22. Last game, we weren’t happy with the way we shot the ball from the free‐throw line, today we shoot 100%. So, so far it’s a good trend. It’s a sign of a really good team when you see something that is maybe not so good at the time, let’s work on it, let’s focus on it, practice it in the game we go out and we execute it in the game. So I think those two things, which are, like I said, the sign of a really good team and really smart players. That you kind of address something, you work on it, practice it and are able to put it in the game. And so just really proud of that from this team.”

On the team’s defense being there all season:

“Yeah, the defense has been there. We focus a lot on defense throughout summer and fall so it’s not shocking that that our offense is maybe trying to catch up to our defense a little. It’s always going to be that way throughout a season; there are always going to be ups and downs and whatnot. So, we focus a lot on that, we feel like that it could be a cornerstone of our team and program going forward so we really wanted to focus on it. And the players have worked extremely hard on both ends of the floor, but really defensively. (Lamke and Pitts) in particular, just really focusing on what they need to do and what can they can do to get better every day. It’s been just really fun to coach, so like I said then it was good when you can play your offense off your defense. Which is ultimately what you want to have happen”


Sophomore Destiny Pitts

On if the team was getting her more opportunities to make more 3‐pointers:

“I mean I wasn’t it necessarily (that). I was just saying we had a great inside‐outside game start. The inside got going early so they had to double team to them and I just think we got a lot of stuff on the back side. They had to rotate out of the rotation a lot so with the extra passes that were there that was kind of freed us up.”

On if she feels like she’s getting into a shooting rhythm:

I mean yeah, I would say I’m kind of getting in a rhythm. Basically I just have to keep playing, rhythm or not. We always have to play defense so I think we have done a really good job of just not letting our offense affect our defense. We can just continue to build our offense up. We’re just going to keep getting better and better.”

Senior Annalese Lamke

On if she’s surprised by the team’s success on defense this year:

“Not that surprised because I think we really saw the deficits in our defense from last year, and I think we were really excited to get the opportunity to focus a lot on defense and just have a coach really come in and be solid on defense because we knew we were capable of having a good defense.”
 

“Not that surprised because I think we really saw the deficits in our defense from last year, and I think we were really excited to get the opportunity to focus a lot on defense and just have a coach really come in and be solid on defense because we knew we were capable of having a good defense.”
Click to expand...

Ouch. Not even the players miss Stollings zone defense ;)
 

tripledouble said:
Again, nothing gained from games like this. This is a game that will hurt more than help when it comes to NCAA selection time. That being said, it seems that no one was injured, the reserves got plenty of PT, and Pitts hit five threes after a slow start. Still not sure how much Staples will be able to contribute this year. On the plus side, she is a confident shooter and it appears she is willing to drive to the hoop sometimes. On the negative side, she's been loose with the ball sometimes and she doesn't appear to be very quick. Time will tell. Iggy is right in pointing out Bello's "bad" fouls. While that doesn't matter in these non-competitive games, it will be important for her to stay on the court against BC and in the conference games.
Click to expand...

I am not worried about the NCAA selection at this juncture. This game does give the team the benefit of playing time for bench and Freshmen players. This will be crucial down the stretch run. It is great to develop Mercedes Staples as quickly as possible. It appears that she may be a legit three point threat down the road. With Gadiva coming back, this team has lots of potential to make noise.
 

adamj95 said:
Ouch. Not even the players miss Stollings zone defense ;)
Click to expand...

Not surprising. It was one of the biggest throwaway zone defenses I've ever seen. And as a player, it must be frustrating when you can't stop anybody due to a coach's refusal to teach man-to-man defense.
 

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