B1G Game 11: Gophers Host Rutgers (2-3-19)

Donate To GopherHole
I

Ignatius L Hoops

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Messages
10,779
Reaction score
3,612
Points
113
Last Season's Almost Win



Last season’s contest at Rutgers was memorable. A Gopher fourth quarter comeback forced overtime and nearly delivered a regulation win. The final run of Gopher points in the fourth quarter read: Pitts for three, Wagner for three, Pitts nailed three free throws after being fouled on a three attempt and another Pitts’ three tied the game at 68 with 15 seconds remaining. Then, 10 seconds later, Wagner stole the ball, advanced it to a breaking Keke Bell who…….missed a short runner at the buzzer. (Most of us were already celebrating a win). In overtime, Rutgers ruled, winning 70-80. It was a tough loss; but the Gophers bounced back closing the conference season winning 8 of their next 10.

Pitts scored 22 points as did Wagner whom also grabbed 10 rebounds. Hubbard was the other Gopher in double figures with 13. All three played 45 minutes. Bell played 43 minutes contributing 3 points, 5 assists and 8 turnovers. Taiye Bello added 6 points in 24 minutes. For Rutgers, the now graduated Tyler Scaife scored 25, followed closely by Stasha Carey with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

This season, Rutgers’ (9-1) first B1G win was a seemingly typical Scarlet Knight 45-41 ugly slugfest over Northwestern in Piscataway. It was appropriately the 200th B1G win in C Vivian Stringers career. The next win, however, made everyone sit up and take notice. Rutgers went to College Park and defeated Maryland 73-65 while playing at the Terps pace. Rutgers out scored Maryland 28-24 in the first quarter and 26-18 in the fourth. The Scarlet Knights went 9-21 from three. It was a demonstration of versatility.

Last night, against the Hoosier’s, we got the whole Rutgers range. The bad: Indiana ran out to a 15-5 lead early in the 1st quarter and maintained a 33-24 advantage at the half. Rutgers stilled trailed 43-31 mid-way through the third quarter. Then the terrifying: C Vivian Stringer broke out a full court press resulting in 7 Hoosier turnovers, a 15-4 Rutgers run and a technical on Charise Wilson following a Guirantes buzzer beating shot pulling Rutgers to 47-46. The good: in the fourth, the Rutgers scoring touch returned and they eventually wore down the Hoosiers for a 69-64 victory. Ciani Cryor was the Scarlet Knights offensive star with 22 points and 3 steals. Cryor is having an excellent season averaging 6.6 assist/B1G games.

Cryor (33.6) is the only Scarlet Knight averaging over 30 minutes/game in B1G play. There are 9 players averaging in double figures in playing time and Stringer will pop in a few others. Against Indiana she played 12 players. Still, I think the match ups with Pitts, Bell, Brunson and T. Bello are decent for the Gophers; but a win will require a tiring forty minute dog fight.




B1G Wins: Northwestern 45-41, @ Maryland 73-65, Penn State 74-61, @ Illinois 71-60, @ Nebraska 62-56, Purdue 65-63, Michigan State 78-62, @ Penn State 69-61, Indiana 69-64

B1G Loss: @ Iowa 66-72


Starters:

5’5” G Jr Ciani Cryor (12 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists versus Maryland)
6’2” F Sr Stasha Carey (18 points, 6 rebounds in 29 minutes versus Maryland)
5’3” G Sr Charise Wilson (14 points versus Penn State) Wilson is a Grad transfer from Rhode Island
6’0” G Sr Sierra Calhoun (7points, 2 rebounds versus Michigan State) Calhoun transferred from Ohio State
6’3” C Sr Victoria Harris ( 6 points, 7 rebounds versus Michigan State)


Others:

5’11” G So Arella Guirantes (19 points, 7 rebounds versus Michigan State)
5’7” G Fr Noga Peleg Pelc (6 points versus Purdue)
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Last Season's Almost Win
Last season’s contest at Rutgers was memorable. A Gopher fourth quarter comeback forced overtime and nearly delivered a regulation win. The final run of Gopher points in the fourth quarter read: Pitts for three, Wagner for three, Pitts nailed three free throws after being fouled on a three attempt and another Pitts’ three tied the game at 68 with 15 seconds remaining. Then, 10 seconds later, Wagner stole the ball, advanced it to a breaking Keke Bell who…….missed a short runner at the buzzer. (Most of us were already celebrating a win). ...
Click to expand...
I think most of us remember that game, especially the end of regulation, very vividly. Indeed, most of were already jumping up and down, celebrating a seemingly near miraculous win.

Keke got herself messed up by not being decisive about whether to shoot it off the glass, or finger-roll a floater for the swish. Either one is a 90% shot for Bell. She ended up splitting the difference between the two, and (if I recall) finger-rolling a clang off the back of the rim.



Ignatius L Hoops said:
In overtime, Rutgers ruled, winning 70-80. It was a tough loss; ...
Pitts ... Wagner ... Hubbard ... (all) played 45 minutes. Bell played 43 minutes. Taiye Bello ... played 24 minutes.
Click to expand...

Last year's team was definitely in shape. Four out of five key players played 43 minutes or more. But while doing so, they were not playing the hustle P-2-P defense that we're playing this year. So (as others have pointed out in various posts) this year's team might seem a bit more out-of-gas at times, but perhaps they're in just as good shape as last year, but just working harder.

In last year's Rutgers game, it became pretty clear that the team was in shape enough so that each key player could play a 40-minute regulation game. Or 35-minutes of a regulation game plus a 5-minute overtime period. But not both. They were simply out of gas during overtime. Rutgers ran circles around them, outscoring them by 10 points. Which is one basket per minute in excess of whatever the Gophers scored. We better pray that the upcoming Rutgers game doesn't go to overtime.



Ignatius L Hoops said:
Cryor (33.6) is the only Scarlet Knight averaging over 30 minutes/game in B1G play. There are 9 players averaging in double figures in playing time and Stringer will pop in a few others. Against Indiana she played 12 players. Still, I think the match ups with Pitts, Bell, Brunson and T. Bello are decent for the Gophers; but a win will require a tiring forty minute dog fight.
Click to expand...
So they have up to a 12-player rotation, and we have (ignoring small minutes) what amounts to a 6-player rotation. OK, I think I have it figured out how we beat them. It's simple math, really. We group their 12 players into six pairs, each of which is most analogous to one of our six players in the rotation. Now, each of our players needs to strive to score more points than their analogous pair of Rutgers players scores. In the available 40 minutes. If we achieve that, we win. Go Gophers - execute on that plan! [Thankfully, I'm sure Whay has a more detailed game plan.]
 
Last edited:

Is this game on TV?
 




Somehow tied at 10 even though there's been 3-4 passes directly to Rutgers players. 7 turnovers already.
 



6 TO's on Bell early in the second.
 



The fact this isnt a 20 pt lead for Rutgers is amazing.
 


As Corbu said, "Alright Alex, you have four highlights to chose from" to highlight the 4 made field goals. :(
 

Only 1 FG in the second quarter. To be down only 6 at the half is amazing. Unfortunately, Rutgers shooting has been awful too.
 




Shades said:
6 TO's on Bell early in the second.
Click to expand...

I think every pass to or from Lamke was easily intercepted.

Guess that's why K. Bello got some minutes. But she let them have an old-fashioned 3-point play at end of shot clock, so that didn't last long.

D looks good, we do OK when we get a shot. But can't win if you throw the ball away half the possessions.
 


First half: 14 turnovers and 17% shooting.

Hope second half is not 14% shooting and 17 turnovers.
 

First half beefs
Bello taking mid-range shots. Not even coming close to going in. She shouldn't take shots past 3 feet.
Bell's turnovers. Too many forced fancy passes, particularly to Bello. She has a hard time catching an easy pass. Fancy pass? Forget it.
A lot of half court sets even with a 4 guard system. Need to run it more or maybe play Lamke more.
 

The crowd is booing the call against Bell, but it was a good call. Bell grabbed the arm.
 

Perez has got to take more shots. They need to set her up too.
 


Rutgers leaving themselves only one timeout remaining in game with 3:22 left in third:eek:
 

Don't think there was a sub in the 3rd quarter. Hopefully the starters have their legs to finish this off!
 

39-33 MIN end of third.

Whalen hasn't been subbing, so I'm guessing they'll run out of gas in the fourth.
 

That we're ahead by 6 going into 4, is all heart by this team. Jaz leading the team.

Bello on track for 22 rebounds.
 

At least this long mysterious review is giving the Gopher starters a rest.
 

Things looking good now. Rutgers playing desperate.
 


Go Gophers! The 2nd consecutive big win! They're going to turn the Big Ten upside down if they continue to win after getting off to such a rough start in the conference.
 

Let's remember that Rutgers was leading the BIG coming into this game. Good win for the Gophers, despite one of the ugliest first halfs in memory. Gophers played solid defense the entire game. Offense continues to be a major challenge for this team. A monster game on the boards for Bello, who gets a ton of rebounds with her athleticism.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom