BIG Game 17: Gophers host Michigan State, Feb 22nd!

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Kudos to the Michigan State coaching staff for making great adjustments during halftime. I think the Gophers went to Dairy Queen at halftime and were late showing up for the third quarter. G.G. and Braun missed the team bus. McKinney was awesome but couldn't carry the team; she needed some help.
 

Just one of those games. We looked very rushed and sometimes these senior fans are the hardest to win cause they want it so bad. I don’t think we will shoot that poorly again.
Lots to still play for and a double bye in the BIG tourney is still in reach.
Probably need to win at Illinois and then make the semifinals of BIG tourney to get to the four seed line, but I think it’s still doable. Need some help.
 

4 seed is gone, but the season continues. They can still accomplish something meaningful.
 


Best just to move on, looked like Gophers couldn’t handle the physicality of this game, almost all shots looked rushed. Definitely a poor game by Grace but other than Tori and Sophie really no one showed up. They have a week to regroup and focus, still a lot of season left.
 





Little bit of a reality check from a hot run of basketball. Get a week to recover and get a W @ Illinois. and move on. Went away from rotations as no Christian at all(usually few minutes early). Even when others ice cold and struggling. Game really turned when MSU freshman Amy Terrain hit 3 3's, couple further back. Not sure the heavy minutes finally caught up to us. Didn't seem to try to get Braun going early after her hot play of late.

Games only get harder as the season goes further.
Rah!
 




drewhaus7 said:
Little bit of a reality check from a hot run of basketball. Get a week to recover and get a W @ Illinois. and move on. Went away from rotations as no Christian at all(usually few minutes early). Even when others ice cold and struggling. Game really turned when MSU freshman Amy Terrain hit 3 3's, couple further back. Not sure the heavy minutes finally caught up to us. Didn't seem to try to get Braun going early after her hot play of late.

Games only get harder as the season goes further.
Rah!
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Agree! Surprised we’re not seeing Christian at all the last two games.
No idea how Wisconsin beat this Michigan state team lol
 

walleye said:
Kudos to the Michigan State coaching staff for making great adjustments during halftime. I think the Gophers went to Dairy Queen at halftime and were late showing up for the third quarter. G.G. and Braun missed the team bus. McKinney was awesome but couldn't carry the team; she needed some help.
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McKinney lit it up. Thank you McKinney!
 

samloupete said:
The epitome of coming out flat to start the 2nd half. A coaches worst nightmare.
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It is the coach's job to find ways to keep 3rd quarter letdowns/crashes from happening. Third quarter letdowns happens too frequently with Gopher women's basketball.
 



Gophers could have won that Michigan game if their shooting didn't swoon in the second half.

You can't have your prize in front of you and then miss a lay up, and air ball, and two rebound shots at the rim miss.
 


I can't criticize them after the winning streak they put together. I didn’t think this team was any better then a tenth place team in the big ten. They have proved me wrong. They have played better lately. This game when shooters go cold hurts them big time because they don't have a bench to help. This team plays hard but has limitations. I think next years team will be better. Hope they can regroup and put together another streak.
 

Gopher Mac said:
I can't criticize them after the winning streak they put together. I didn’t think this team was any better then a tenth place team in the big ten. They have proved me wrong. They have played better lately. This game when shooters go cold hurts them big time because they don't have a bench to help. This team plays hard but has limitations. I think next years team will be better. Hope they can regroup and put together another streak.
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Hope you are right about next year's team. Battle & Hart will be hard to replace.
 

Shots just didn't fall in the second half. Honestly I thought the Gophers looked tired in the 3rd quarter, just didn't seem to have usual fight. Better now than in the Big10 tournament. Get almost a week to self scout and work on Illinois. Still a chance ro earn a better seed. Go Gophers.
 

3 point shooting would’ve looked better if we ever kicked out from the post when we were double and triple teamed.
 


Spartans got a big boost from the it freshman sharp shooter in the second half. We have one-don’t we? Second year in a row our freshman not playing at the end of the season.
 

To me, it just felt like the vibes were off with everyone. As others have mentioned, most of the starters had off days, Tonga and Glenn seemed off compared to their usual play. And even though the crowd was thousands of people larger than the Ohio State and other games, it didn't seem to help. Even the student section felt off, despite being the biggest crowd of the season. During the Ohio State game, it seemed like everyone cheered the entire game. Last night, the crowd got going only a few times, and mostly well into the 4th quarter. To me, it did not seem like more was better in this case, in terms of audience size. It's great that the team's recent success is drawing interest, but based on my vantage point, not a lot of the newer fans were all that into it. Lots of people looking at phones for most of the game, occasionally looking up to half-heartedly clap. For anyone who has watched the show What We Do In the Shadows, it felt like there mighta been a lot of energy vampires in the building. Seemed liked all the energy from the crowd, and Gopher players, was being sucked up by something. I'm not trying to blame the crowd by any means, just that the vibes were noticeably off.

Also, I know the majority of college teams do their senior day presentations before the game, but I would like to see stats on home team wins on senior day when the presentations are AFTER, rather than before the game. Iowa and UConn do their presentations after. In past years, the men's team has done theirs after the game. Those presentations carry a lot of emotion, and that's probably not always a positive thing before taking the court for one of the most important games of the season. Tonga and Glenn had maybe their worst games of the season, with their families getting to see them play. Sad to see Amaya end her playing days at The Barn on the bench for the last bit of the game. She was visibly emotional and upset over the review on her foul. Tough last memory after so many great moments on that court. Yeah, the argument for before the game is that the players get honored in front of a bigger crowd. But I think a lot of fans would stick around after, especially if players choose to do a little speech, play some highlight reels. Can't help but wonder if it coulda made a difference in the game.
 

Katogopher said:
Spartans got a big boost from the it freshman sharp shooter in the second half. We have one-don’t we? Second year in a row our freshman not playing at the end of the season.
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It is odd we haven't seen Christian the last two games at all. I did think Michigan State was more fresh in the second half.
 


Watching the pre-game shoot around, Christian was on fire all around the three-point line. Must be her defense.
 

To the defensive point, I'm surprised we didn't see Holloway at select times when we needed some defensive stops/steals.
 

Random question. When the staff is out recruiting, do you think they're recruiting for athletes to come in and deliver right away or more future? Meaning these shooters they bring in, they must know how good they are on the defensive end from watching them, right? Obviously its a big jump from HS to college. Coach P is a defensive coach, so she must have seen some of this when recruiting, right?
 

DietCokeFan said:
It is odd we haven't seen Christian the last two games at all. I did think Michigan State was more fresh in the second half.
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I don't think it is odd that Christian didn't play the last two games. The Gophers played two top 25 teams. Christian does not have the experience, composure, and skill set to play big, high pressure games. She may be able to light up the basket in shoot-arounds but hitting them in a big game is a very different thing. I think her defense and ball handling is suspect under pressure. Coach P sees her in scrimmages and apparently does not think she is ready. Is she as good as GG, McKinney, Braun, Battle, and Heyer were as freshmen? I don't think so. If the program is going to reach the next level, the Gophers probably need to recruit some freshmen even better than the above mentioned players were as freshmen. I hope Christian improves her game next year like Julia Hanson did in volleyball between her sophomore and junior years.
 

walleye said:
I don't think it is odd that Christian didn't play the last two games. The Gophers played two top 25 teams. Christian does not have the experience, composure, and skill set to play big, high pressure games. She may be able to light up the basket in shoot-arounds but hitting them in a big game is a very different thing. I think her defense and ball handling is suspect under pressure. Coach P sees her in scrimmages and apparently does not think she is ready. Is she as good as GG, McKinney, Braun, Battle, and Heyer were as freshmen? I don't think so. If the program is going to reach the next level, the Gophers probably need to recruit some freshmen even better than the above mentioned players were as freshmen. I hope Christian improves her game next year like Julia Hanson did in volleyball between her sophomore and junior years.
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I agree it is hard for fans to judge how good Christian is because we never see her play. Not even in blow out wins in non-conference. I know coach P sees her in practice but not playing her in games is a little baffling. Is it that Coach P just doesn't like to put players in games until they are fully ready? Maybe but how good is Tori now because Mara was injuried last year and coach P had no choice but to throw her in maybe before she was ready. It might be a plus that Mara was injured. Just a thought.
 

What do Tori, Mara, and Grace have in common? They possess size, speed, and the ability to score. McKenna can score but lacks the speed on defense. Grace has changed her physique over the course of her time here. As has Sophie, for that matter. Tori was basically a plug-and-play addition. Time will tell with McKenna. Holloway has the speed and length, but can't shoot.
 

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