B1G Game 1: Gophers Host Purdue (12-10-23)

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PhiloVance said:
Can we eliminate 3rd quarters! They seem to be Gophers Achilles heel.
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Sophie got her 3rd foul right away in the quarter (9:33), goes sits down, we were ahead 27-18. When she re-enters (3:31), the Gophers were down 37-32...outscored 19-5. Coach P ran a play for Sophie right away, she scores and they're back in the game. I like Ayianna Johnson, but she's not ready yet. She's gotta get some minutes.
 

Stars? WOW the STARTERS! Hart and Braun for sure! Battle is hard-nosed! G$$ off day but solid Defense
I can't stop praising Heyer! Off day shooting. 12 boards 2 were offensive. ZERO Turnovers!

Johnson is very athletic but B1G is brutal in the lane. Sanders also found out!

But when the game is on the line...I'll take Braun.

Many minutes for our Starters. Battle and Braun seemed energized in the final seconds

Awesome WIN
 













Wow! What a fun game to watch! Amazing finish.

I guess the main thing that jumped out at me about this game was the fact that Minn showed that they can win a Grind-It-Out, half-court, Big Ten defensive basketball game against a good team. A game where, there weren't a lot of open shots for either team and the offense is a uphill climb through a snowdrift. They took care of the ball, rebounded well, played mostly solid, fundamental and mentally tough defense. Then, the two players they really count on, inside and outside, came through with big shots and good defense. That block by Braun was not only spectacular, but a great example of playing "never give up" defense. That was a "Tough, Big Girl Basketball" win for our team.
 

Another nice win. I agree with Rex that it looked like the Gophers halftime plan to get their offense going was to get the ball in to Sophie and let her shoot it or kick it out to an open teammate for a shot, but then Sophie got a quick third foul to start the third and that never happened until she returned to the floor. Good Gopher defense until Leyden got hot from the outside. But the interior defense was solid most of the game. Not a lot of contributions from the bench today and it's looking like it's going to be hard to expect much from the bench this year. Although I still have high hopes for Nia. Hopefully, the starters can stay healthy. Purdue is one of the conference teams the Gophers could be competing against for an NCAA tourney spot.
 



I don’t know if anyone here is gopher VB fans, but the second half of the season when they were fighting for a tournament bid I watched every game on the edge of my seat. I literally have already felt like that this whole season. I really want an ncaa tournament this year and I feel like they NEED every 50/50 game to make it!
 

And only 8 turnovers. . I like the improvements this team has made since the startt of of the year. They've showed a grittiness that we haven't seen in quite some time. Love the defensive improvement. This team is well-coached and it's obvious that the players are on board with the coaching.
 

Another fun and strange afternoon at Williams. Big Ten Season tends to signal the end of the free flowing offense; but, 7 to 7 at the end of one? We couldn't knock down good looks.. However, the starters took responsibility for their parts of the game and emerge 1-0

I liked in the first half how Czinano played briefly and had 2 points, 2 rebounds and an assist.
 

Answering some thoughts I read in the thread... I think more than anything Purdue just did a good job of always knowing where Grace was. She did not even touch the ball on many possessions because she was defended. Probably something we develop counters for going forward.

Johnson isn't ready but by getting minutes - 11 today - she'll get better. She made some little plays - got a power post up bucket and 1 of 2 free throws. Hart is kind of our glue - if it's possible for a post to be that. We need her in the game to collapse the defense and to get her post up buckets. She was 7 of 11 ... so pretty much a security blanket...get it inside and something good happens more often than not.... 2 assists.

Battle is doing lots of things to help us win games. Way more confident in all aspects. Pretty good decisions the majority of the time. Agree with somebody who said I'm not ready to trust Janay yet.
Battle is important!

Heyer was 1 for 8 from the field and 0 for 2 from the line. She can't make a free throw...her free throw shot is broken. Very productive, unorthodox player who had an off day but kept hustling and rebounding.

I'd like to see Czinano get some more minutes. She seems to do positive things but only 3 minutes today.

Braun had 21 points but it still feels like she needs to do more. The 2 turnovers in the last couple minutes were very uncharacteristic but we over came them. She is awesome!

Only thing I can figure is that Terry spaced out and thought they were behind with 3 seconds to go.
Committed the foul and the Purdue coach gave a very brief what are you doing outburst to her and moved on. Terry with 15 rebounds and 9 assists but 7 turnovers too.

We compete. We believe. It seemed like the Gophers knew they were going to win even when they screwed up. Visible, positive determination that said we got this.
Purdue has several good players and you'd think will win a lot of games. Fun to be at the top with Iowa.
 

UPDATE +/-

Today's +/-

Sophie 15
Maggie 6
Battle 5
Mara 3
GG 3
Mallory -5
Sanders -4
Nia -4
AJ -9

1702245955063.png
 

I was glad to see we had a decent lead going into the 3rd. I thought that we had shaken the 3rd quarter blues, but not so. But a miracle finish. Didn't we have a miracle win in the first B1G game last year too (Penn State)?
 


Gophers come from behind in final minute to beat Purdue 60-58 in Big Ten opener​

Amaya Battle made two free throws with 3 seconds left after stealing the ball.


In the closing seconds Sunday at Williams Arena, Amaya Battle used her smarts to get a big-time stop, then turned her brain off to win the game.

Battle's two free throws with 3 seconds left broke a tie, finished off a late-game comeback and gave the Gophers women's basketball team a 60-58 victory over Purdue in the Big Ten opener for both teams.

Since the first day of practice this fall, coach Dawn Plitzuweit has preached to her team to find a way. Sunday the Gophers (9-1) won their fifth game in a row despite struggling to shoot much of the game, and falling into a four-point hole with 83 seconds left.

"It's always just, 'Find a way,' " said Mara Braun, who scored 21 points on 8-for-18 shooting after missing her first six shots. It was her twisting, turning, double-clutching baseline jumper that tied the score at 58-58 with 13.8 seconds left.

Battle scored 15 points with four assists and two steals. Center Sophie Hart, battling foul trouble, scored 14 in 23 minutes.

But in the end it was the Gophers finding a way to win..

www.startribune.com

Gophers defeat Purdue 60-58 in Big Ten opener behind Amaya Battle's clutch play in final seconds

Minnesota trailed by four with less than 90 seconds left in the Big Ten opener before clutch plays, capped by a steal and free throws by Amaya Battle, boosted the Gophers to victory.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
 

GREAT WIN!! Very fun atmosphere in the Barn today. I hope Dawn succeeds in drawing more fans to games. The no quit attitude of her team should help.

I thought Maggie played well today and that she could have been used in place of Grace. Maggie can defend, and as she demonstrated today can score near the basket. Johnson is showing improvement I think. No turnovers during her time on the floor. She did move on a screen. On her one chance, she too scored. I trust this coaching staff to continue to work with her. As today demonstrated, Sophie needs a reliable sub in physical battles. As Dawn stated in the post game, Nia didn't play as much because of how physical it was in the paint.

A real back and forth game of runs. Thankfully, we went on the last one through determined play. Only 8 turnovers today!! (Two that put us behind near the end) What an improvement.

Surprised Purdue did not press us seriously at any point in the game. We have yet to prove we have overcome that weakness from last year's team.
 

Longtimegopherfan said:
GREAT WIN!! Very fun atmosphere in the Barn today. I hope Dawn succeeds in drawing more fans to games. The no quit attitude of her team should help.

I thought Maggie played well today and that she could have been used in place of Grace. Maggie can defend, and as she demonstrated today can score near the basket. Johnson is showing improvement I think. No turnovers during her time on the floor. She did move on a screen. On her one chance, she too scored. I trust this coaching staff to continue to work with her. As today demonstrated, Sophie needs a reliable sub in physical battles. As Dawn stated in the post game, Nia didn't play as much because of how physical it was in the paint.

A real back and forth game of runs. Thankfully, we went on the last one through determined play. Only 8 turnovers today!! (Two that put us behind near the end) What an improvement.

Surprised Purdue did not press us seriously at any point in the game. We have yet to prove we have overcome that weakness from last year's team.
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Sometimes, the reason you don't press isn't as much about the other team, but whether you believe that your team can effectively do it and still recover if you get beat on it. Might have been that they didn't want to speed up the pace of the game. I think the Gophers generally want to play more up-tempo than the game was today. I have no idea of the Purdue thinking on press or no press, but I do know that most teams have"cost/reward" reasons that most of us would never think of for their game plans.
 

Fun game, Gophers have grit and are winning as a team. Seems like every contribution is important even from the bench. Big 10 basketball can turn into a brawl and slugfest wrestling match at times. Keep it up Gophers!
 

Longtimegopherfan said:
GREAT WIN!! Very fun atmosphere in the Barn today. I hope Dawn succeeds in drawing more fans to games. The no quit attitude of her team should help.

I thought Maggie played well today and that she could have been used in place of Grace. Maggie can defend, and as she demonstrated today can score near the basket. Johnson is showing improvement I think. No turnovers during her time on the floor. She did move on a screen. On her one chance, she too scored. I trust this coaching staff to continue to work with her. As today demonstrated, Sophie needs a reliable sub in physical battles. As Dawn stated in the post game, Nia didn't play as much because of how physical it was in the paint.

A real back and forth game of runs. Thankfully, we went on the last one through determined play. Only 8 turnovers today!! (Two that put us behind near the end) What an improvement.

Surprised Purdue did not press us seriously at any point in the game. We have yet to prove we have overcome that weakness from last year's team.
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Purdue maybe could have pressed in an attempt to get a spurt but they are taller, more physical than they are quick. They also had some foul trouble. I don't know what they normally do (do they press other teams?) but experimenting with a press and giving up layups potentially when it was a major struggle for both teams to score is maybe not the trick to pull out of the bag.

But ya, we seem vulnerable to the full court press .... totally agree with that.
Ohio St wouldn't seem to be a good matchup for us.
 

NateDawgUM said:
Man, Braun playing with fire there spiking the ball with 2 seconds left...

Nice win though.
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Maybe, but I think her thought process was to have the ball in the air while time ran out. It wasn't at or near anybody except the ref :) Hopefully, it's a coaching point...probably better tactical choices.
 

HATS of to THEEEEE

this team just has so much GRIT and TOUGHNESS.. and seems like they have found how to close out games.. they don't QUIT that's for sure.

kind of a odd strange game.. Grace and Mal didn't have great scoring afternoons.. but they did so much that wasn't in the box score..

Mal once again our rebound machine.. and gets a big steal in the start of the 4th..

GG only got a couple shots.. seemed like Purdue was guarding her really well.. we will have to figure out how to get her a bit more freeed up in other games. But I thought she played pretty well.

Maggie in her 3 minutes really PLAYED well. got a rebound and went right back to the basket. She really plays some solid defense.

AJ you could tell she isn't just ready for this style of B1G play yet.. but getting her 11 minutes will help down the road.

Battle had a really good game I thought. She came out attacking in the 2nd half which was great to see. Also man her shot is night and day from last year. I think she is figuring out she can get to the rim against anyone. Her nice little pull up jumper has been on point. To be honest had this been last year, I'm not sure she takes some of those late game shots.. Her STEAL to seal the game.. what a read, went down then started to go back out and BOOM right into her hands.

Mara started a bit rough.. then pulled up and dropped a logo 3 and took off.. Her BLOCK in the 4th quarter was FUN to see up close.. that was a B1G time block. Yes she had 2 careless TO's but did she hang her head. NOPE she just made one of the toughest shots I've seen her make.. (ps she got WHACKED)

Sophie has just been such a HUGE piece to our team.. Another great game by Sophie and again led the team in +/- today with +15 (in only 23 minutes) 7-11 from the field. 5 rebounds, 2 dimes.. and another game without a TO. Her 3rd foul was if anything TICKY TACK. She had a HUGE rebound late in the game to make it a one point game. She has really found when to take a shot or to pass it back out..

this team is SO FUN to watch.. they all seem to just be playing for what is on the front of their jersey MINNESOTA.. doesn't seem to matter to them who is the "STAR" they just want to win.. and to FIND A WAY to WIN, as Dawn P said.. they found a WAY
 

Longtimegopherfan said:
GREAT WIN!! Very fun atmosphere in the Barn today. I hope Dawn succeeds in drawing more fans to games. The no quit attitude of her team should help.

I thought Maggie played well today and that she could have been used in place of Grace. Maggie can defend, and as she demonstrated today can score near the basket. Johnson is showing improvement I think. No turnovers during her time on the floor. She did move on a screen. On her one chance, she too scored. I trust this coaching staff to continue to work with her. As today demonstrated, Sophie needs a reliable sub in physical battles. As Dawn stated in the post game, Nia didn't play as much because of how physical it was in the paint.

A real back and forth game of runs. Thankfully, we went on the last one through determined play. Only 8 turnovers today!! (Two that put us behind near the end) What an improvement.

Surprised Purdue did not press us seriously at any point in the game. We have yet to prove we have overcome that weakness from last year's team.
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I think Czinano will see a few more minutes if her dribbling and shooting skills improve. :)
I thing GG was BIG10 freshie of the week.
 

Even Real-time RPI is believing in the Gophers a bit more. One projected conference loss has shifted to a win (Maryland, I think?) for an 8-10 projected B1G record.
 

60's Guy said:
Maybe, but I think her thought process was to have the ball in the air while time ran out. It wasn't at or near anybody except the ref :) Hopefully, it's a coaching point...probably better tactical choices.
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Coach P mentioned that Mara thought there was less time left and that they had talked
 

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