B1G Game 15: Gophers Host Indiana (2-20-18)

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Still making it to the dance, but the dream of hosting has died.
 

Shades said:
Still making it to the dance, but the dream of hosting has died.
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I'm not completely convinced of that. To say their performance tonight gives me pause would be a vast understatement.
 

hubbardbench.jpg
 



Coach Stollings said fatigue was not a factor but you got to think it played a part with Hubbard out and Pitts hobbling, 3 games in 6 days. Could still get the number 4 seed but need some teams to loose. Hope Gadiva will be back for the Illini game. Carlie played her heart out on senior night but Pitts and Bell going 8/35 and 0/10/on three pointers absolutely killed this team. Will end this rant on a positive, 18 steals was great and been a big part of their recent success, unfortunately just couldn’t capitalize tonight.
 

The tournament looked doable after the Maryland game but no so much now.
 

Don’t need Hubbard to beat Illinois. If she needs extra time, give it to her.
The tournament is happening. Don’t bring back the hand-wringing.
 

Shades said:
Don’t need Hubbard to beat Illinois. If she needs extra time, give it to her.
The tournament is happening. Don’t bring back the hand-wringing.
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Not sure anybody is bringing back hand-wringing per se, but rather recognizing that a team already firmly on the bubble probably can't afford to lay an egg at home and expect to automatically get the benefit of the doubt.
 



Shades said:
Still making it to the dance, but the dream of hosting has died.
Click to expand...

Even if this had been a W, it was going to be an RPI problem. A loss is an even bigger RPI problem. They now need to do some good in the B1G tourney, I think.
 

Things were a bit off kilter from the start. First, Pitts comes out for warmups wearing a big brace on her left leg. She kept fiddling with it and never got comfortable during warmups and eventually took it off during the game. After she took it off, it took a while before she got back to something approaching her normal movement. I don't think she really got her legs on her three attempts.

Of course, then I noticed Hubbard in uniform but not warming up. Brunson was taking warmup threes from the corner. In the game, Garrido Perez made an early appearance and then regular appearances. I think her height seemed to help keep Cahill under control.

And then the Gopher D turned Indiana over again and again (I think 23 times, with a large number of those being steals). There were extremely frustrating stretches in the second half where Minnesota made back to back steals but didn't turn the opportunities into points. Still, we were leading starting the 4th quarter. But as everyone has noted, we just needed a few more threes-the looks were there. In the end Tyra Buss took advantage and knocked down the killer shots from beyond the arc.
 

Indiana had 23 turnovers and 18 of them were Gopher steals. Wagner and Bell each had 6 and Pitts had 3. However, "steal!" followed by "missed jumper" was too common.

The Gophers even got the Hoosiers in a bit of foul trouble-Cahill and Yeaney each had 4 and Penn 3. Plus, Buss came out of the game briefly with a turned ankle and also took a couple of head banging falls to the court. Minnesota should have won this by ten.


Minutes Played (Starters Bolded)

40 Bell
39 Wagner
36 Pitts
21 Edwards
21 Brunson
18 Taiye Bello
16 Garrido Perez
9 Fernstrom
 

Gopher RPI dropped to #44, which is harsher than I expected. With a healthy team, I’m confident they can build it back up during the Big Ten tournament.
 



http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...postgame_notes/postgame_notes_20180221aaa.pdf

Marlene StollingsOpening Statement:

“Coming off of two really big wins, obviously two Top‐25 wins, I was disappointed tonight in terms of our maturity. I think we’ve been very mature, we were out a player, Gadiva Hubbard was out tonight for medical reasons, and I don’t think the rest of our team responded very well to that. Defensively we did a lot of great things but we didn’t do a lot with the ball once we got it back. We forced 23 turnovers and 18 steals with too many empty possessions, and I thought we reacted to those empty possessions, which is the part I’m disappointed with was our reaction to that. Rather than going to get the ball I thought we hung our head a little bit and they ran them right back down our throat. We will definitely learn from this, it’s a tough one, it stings. Credit to Indiana by all means, they came in here on a seven‐game winning streak, and they took one from us tonight, so certainly they’re playing really well right now.”



Carlie Wagner On the Gophers’ struggles at the 3‐point line:

“Threes aren’t going to fall all of the time, we’re all going to have bad shooting nights, sometimes they’re just not going to fall. That’s when we have to find other ways to score the basketball. After our threes weren’t falling, we had to become more aggressive, especially just trying to get to the basket. They had some people in foul trouble, and I thought we could’ve attacked them more, and got them in even more foul trouble, but we lacked on that aspect. We should have been driving harder from the beginning.”
 

So, she we be Rutgers fans tonight as they host Iowa? It would be nice to stay in the top 4 for the conference tourney. Although I haven't heard anything official, and don't expect to, I'm subscribing to the theory that Hubbard was out due to an illness/fever. With that in mind, I'd expect her to be back against Illinois. Let's just hope that her teammates don't get what she has or had.
 

tripledouble said:
So, she we be Rutgers fans tonight as they host Iowa? It would be nice to stay in the top 4 for the conference tourney. Although I haven't heard anything official, and don't expect to, I'm subscribing to the theory that Hubbard was out due to an illness/fever. With that in mind, I'd expect her to be back against Illinois. Let's just hope that her teammates don't get what she has or had.
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I'm a Rutgers fan tonight; the chance at a Gopher double bye is more important than Rutgers being knocked out of the NCAA's-at least that's what I think now. As far as Gadiva, I was thinking it might be concussion related; but someone noted otherwise. She seemed rather subdued.
 

Unfortunately, games are never won on paper. Without Hubbard this team they put on the court last night save for Wagner (who did not shoot enough) could easily lose at Illinois! Pitts shot 4-17 and Bell 4-18. I would much rather have had Wagner taken a lot of the shots they missed! Wagner gives up open shots much too easily and defers to other players, much to ‘‘this teams detriment”.
 

samloupete said:
Unfortunately, games are never won on paper. Without Hubbard this team they put on the court last night save for Wagner (who did not shoot enough) could easily lose at Illinois! Pitts shot 4-17 and Bell 4-18. I would much rather have had Wagner taken a lot of the shots they missed! Wagner gives up open shots much too easily and defers to other players, much to ‘‘this teams detriment”.
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This is a hindsight view, just like with the Nebraska game. Nobody complains about Carlie playing team ball when they win.

In this game, Carlie shot the ball 27 times and had 0 assists. It’s not that she didn’t try to get some assists. Bell & Pitts missed 27 shots. But I don’t think she deferred too much taking 27 shots. It’s probably her highest shot count this year. Buss only took 19 shots.

All-in-all, I’m still proud of this team. How quickly people forget that they just beat Michigan and Maryland, and looked formidable doing so. Last night they unexpectedly were down a starter. When a team is down a starter without time to practice without that player, that’s a difficult adjustment and can mess with a team’s flow. Seemed like Bell was more frenetic without the calm other PG Hubbard out there.

You can worry about Illinois if you want, but they haven’t won a conference game all year. I’m more worried about getting Pitts back to 100% before the tourney. I’d consider resting her if she’s not 100%. If the team is in danger of losing in the second half, then maybe bring her out. But she obviously wasn’t playing well hurt last night.
 

Agreed with Shades regarding Pitts, was not explosive at all seemed to move gingerly at least that what I saw on the IPad. Did not make the 2 hour trip to Williams due to icy roads. Bell was simply out of sorts; cannot finish to the rim the past few games and I wonder if it is because she does not get the calls to go her way or is she expecting contact I leave it to those who saw it in person. Hope she practices layups and free throw shooting between now and the BIG tourney. I know overall she is a great free throw shooter but seems to miss them when we really need them.
 

It's hard to win a game if only one player shows up. Carlie did her best to beat Indiana on her own. She almost succeeded.
 

Here is some press from the Indiana side. Note much quotes from the coach. Mostly stat data here.

http://iuhoosiers.com/news/2018/2/2...-ten-win-with-82-70-victory-at-minnesota.aspx

QUOTABLE
Head coach Teri Moren
"It's a great road win for our group. I'm really proud. It was obviously another grudge match and went back and forth. Tyra came up big in the fourth. I thought her threes were timely. Our defense got better in the second half. In the first half, we didn't do as well as we needed. We outrebounded them, which was huge."

NOTABLE
The win for the Hoosiers is their eighth straight Big Ten win. That ties a program record for consecutive Big Ten wins (1982-83 season).
The win also marked the second win over a top 50 RPI team for Indiana, with Minnesota coming in at No. 34. It as has also picked up a win over Rutgers (25) and are playing the nation's 13th toughest schedule.
The win is the Hoosiers first on the road at Minnesota since 2011.
They also improved to 12-0 this season when leading at the half. Indiana led 42-40 at the break.
Senior guard Tyra Buss reached 30 points for the second straight game with 36 points (37 vs. Nebraska). It is her fifth career game scoring at least 30 points. Buss now has 2,192 points, which is the IU women's basketball career scoring record and ranks in a tie for third with men's and women's basketball combined career scoring. The only two with more career points are Calbert Cheaney and Steve Alford.
Buss added seven assists and has now tied the Indiana program record for career assists with 533.
Buss connected on 7-of-14 from 3-point range. The seven threes moved Buss into a tie for second on the Hoosiers career 3-pointers made list with 190.
Freshman Bendu Yeaney recorded her second career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Amanda Cahill and Kym Royster scored 10 points apiece for the Hoosiers. Royster added nine rebounds and Cahill added seven rebounds.
Indiana shot 27-of-53 (50.9 percent) from the field and connected on 16-of-19 (84.2 percent) from the free-throw line. Indiana shot 12-of-23 (52.2 percent) from 3-point range.
The 12 3-point field goals are tied for the most for the Hoosiers this season (12 at Maryland).
The game had 15 ties and 13 lead changes.
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I agreed with Teri Moren, Buss's late threes were the difference and it was a grudge match. Our poor three point shooting and having to go with Garrido Perez and Brunson, neither of whom required much defensive attention, eventually closed the lane to Bell and Wagner. Pitts got a couple of pull up jumpers. Indiana spent most of the game trying to clog up the middle. After, I think a Wagner, scoring drive in the second half Moren threw her stack of notes away in disgust. Regarding Pitts, I thought she got more comfortable with her knee by the fourth quarter.

But again, we should win going away when we get 18 steals. The Gophers got steals up top, they, Rutgers like, ripped the ball away inside and they grabbed errant passes on the wing. But, unfortunately, a tad of Rutger's like shooting also crept into proceedings.
 

I was also at the game. The radio announcers said that Hubbard had a high fever which kept her out. In my opinion if she plays the Gophers win by ten. Their high powered offense relies on four scoring guards which spread out the defense. This works especially well with the Gophers because we have three guards who love to shoot the three. When you take away one of these guards it cuts down significantly on how many wide open three shots become available. With Hubbard out, Pitts slowed, and Brunson or Perez in the game we just didn't have that open three point shooter. Bell tried too hard to do it all herself and Wagner almost did do it all until she missed some threes in the fourth quarter. If all four guards are healthy they should still do quite well in the Big tourney. One more point. I am not a big Buss fan but even though the Gophers knew it was coming they could not stop her in the fourth. She was 4 of 5 on threes and most were WAY outside the circle.
 

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