B1G Game 14: Gophers Host Northwestern (2-17-24)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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A WEAKLING WEDNESDAY PREVIEW?​

Purdue (4-9 in conference), a team Minnesota defeated at Williams Arena 60-58, crushed Northwestern 74-48 in Evanston on Valentines Day. A Boiler mid-game 27-0 run sealed the Wildcat’s fate. Northwestern dropped to 3-10 in the Big Ten one game behind 4-9 Minnesota and one game ahead of last place 2-12 Rutgers. Of last season’s Big Ten Tournament’s “Weakling Wednesday’s” flawed four (Rutgers, Penn State, Northwestern, and Minnesota), only the Lady Lions appear to have executed an escape.

Being lined up and mowed down by the opposition is normal for this season’s ‘Cats. Northwestern scores 64.2 points per game while giving up 81.8. That’s a league worst -17.7 differential. Wisconsin clocks in at -15.5, Rutgers at -13.6 and the Gophers are 11th at -6.2

Granted, few observers thought the Wildcats, who finished 2-16 in the conference last season, were bound for glory. Yes, they returned three starters, but too much talent has moved on either through the portal or graduation. Plus, this season, long time head coach Joe McKeown missed five conference games with an Illness. There are some ugly losses on the conference ledger.

Wins: Rutgers 77-70, @ Wisconsin 74-69 and Wisconsin 69-43

Losses: @ Penn State 55-95, Ohio State 60-90, Illinois 52-93, @ Michigan State 72-91, Penn State 65-76, , @ Indiana 59-100, Iowa 74-110, @ Illinois 71-82 and Purdue 48-74

Nevertheless, please note that Northwestern has defeated the Badgers twice this season while Minnesota lost to Wisconsin even with Mara Braun playing 39 minutes. Last season’s meeting between Minnesota and Northwestern in Evanston resulted in a Wildcat win 76-62. Northwestern won the turnover battle committing 8 while the Gophers committed 25. Notable players were the ‘Cats Caileigh Walsh with 22 points and Paige Mott with 15. Mara Braun led the Gophers with 12 points and 6 rebounds.

One thing the Wildcats occasionally do well is shoot threes. From beyond the arc they are led by Boston University transfer Maggie Pina who is 20-43 (.465). Anyway, with Northwestern visiting on Saturday and Wisconsin on Tuesday, Gopher fans will get an up close look at the battle for Weakling Wednesday. It appears there are five teams for four slots. The heat is on.

Northwestern Starters (Big Ten Stats):

Caileigh Walsh is a 6’3” junior forward averaging 12.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in 23.2 minutes. She had 17 points and 7 rebounds in the second win over the Badgers.

Paige Mott is a 6’1” senior forward averaging 7.8 points and 4.9 rebounds in 25.5 minutes. She had 14 points and 10 rebounds versus Wisconsin.

Caroline Lau is a 5’9” sophomore point guard averaging 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in 25.2 minutes. She had 24 points in the second Badger game.

Hailey Weaver is a 5’11” junior guard averaging 6.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 18.8 minutes. She scored 15 points against Michigan State.

Casey Harter is a 5’11” freshman guard averaging 5.7 points and 4 rebounds in 29.1 minutes. She had 9 points and 4 rebounds versus Iowa.

Off the Bench:

Maggie Pina is a 5’7” graduate guard averaging 6.3 points and 1.6 rebounds in 21.1 minutes. She had 11 points and 4 rebounds versus Penn State.

Melannie Daley is a 5’11” junior guard averaging 12.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 23.5 minutes. She had 15 points and 4 rebounds versus Michigan State.
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GG on fire! Glad to see going to her early and often in the game. Also like Battle being more aggressive offensively. Defense still worrisome, NW one of the worst shooting teams in the league and shooting over 50%
 

GG with 18 points in the first half 7-7 shooting!
 






Gophers needed that win. Good all around play. I hope they can build on today's success and forget the bad games.
 


Gophers women's basketball ends losing skid with 88-63 victory over Northwestern​

Grace Grocholski (27 points) made her first eight shots and finished the game 10-for-13..

In a much-needed 88-63 Gophers women's basketball victory over Northwestern – one that broke a six-game losing streak – Grocholski had one of the best days a freshman in the program has had.

Grocholski made her first eight shots and finished the game 10-for-13. She made her first six three-point attempts and finished 6-for-7. She scored 27 points, including the first 13 Gophers points of the game, which is tied for the third most scored by a Gophers freshman in a game.

Her three-pointer 56 seconds into the game gave the Gophers a lead they never lost. Minnesota led by five after the first quarter, by nine at the half.

Then a 25-10 third quarter put Minnesota up 24 entering the final quarter.

It was the most points scored by the Gophers (15-10 overall, 5-9 in the Big Ten) in conference play this season. Their 56.1-percent shooting was a conference best as well..

www.startribune.com

Gophers women’s basketball ends losing skid with 88-63 victory over Northwestern

Grace Grocholski (27 points) made her first eight shots and finished the game 10-for-13.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com
 



Most organized the’ve played since the MSU game. Honestly this is the team I thought we would see when Braun went out. I know it’s NW but they seem to play more confidently and I hope it continues for the next 4 games. I swore after the last game and wasn’t going to watch them anymore but I glad I did. I just wanted to see a legit D1 basketball team and they finally looked like one again
 

Katogopher said:
GG on fire! Glad to see going to her early and often in the game. Also like Battle being more aggressive offensively. Defense still worrisome, NW one of the worst shooting teams in the league and shooting over 50%
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After her third three Joe McKewon called time out to address the problem. Shortly after the time out GG drained a couple of inside jumpers. McKewon's consternation level continued to rise.
 





thatjanelpick said:
His seat has to be hot, no?
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It's always good to remember how bad Northwestern used to be. But I guess that was a couple of athletic directors ago.

It did appear that he had Tangela Smith running some of the timeout huddles and doing some of the talking to the players when they exited the game. I don't know if he missed practices during his illness. On a different note, I don't recall another coach using a bar stool style chair on the raised floor.
 

GG with a statement game for Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Should be close between GG and Natalie Potts.
 


BigTenGuy said:
GG with a statement game for Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Should be close between GG and Natalie Potts.
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I think Grace should be considered more for this award than I think Big Ten is doing.

If you look at her resume for Grace

-Highest Scoring Freshman for points per game (right now)
-started every game
-highest two scoring outputs by a freshman (27 against northwestern, 26 at Michigan) this season.
-right now is leading the head to head with Potts at 1-0
 


Congrats Grace Grocholski on fire!




Five Gophers in double-digits scoring: Grocholski, Heyer, Battle, Sanders and Hart.


And with that, the Gophers have exceeded my expectations for wins post-Braun injury. Way to go Gophers!

Gophers were in the NCAA Tournament until that catastrophic turn of events, the Braun injury and the team rebuilding up the roster that takes some time to gain that talent and experience.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Don't forget Purdue's Mary Ashley Stevenson at 11 points and 5 rebounds per game. And she is 40-44 from the foul line
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Good point. I believe (correct if wrong) BIG Freshman of the Week Standings are:

Potts: 6
GG: 2 - now 3 after today (2/19)
Stevenson: 2
 
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An inflection point worthy of note: I believe that this is the first game we've won without Mara (feel free to correct me if I've missed one somewhere).
She missed the NDSU game last year and we lost. We lost several in a row this year with her missing up until now. So I hope the point isn't lost on the rest of the team: We can lose a player, a starter, our top scorer - and still win. Granted a poor NW team, but they didn't just squeak it out. They owned this game and won won by 20+. This is a moment to reflect and recognize some growth by the rest of the team.
 

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