B1G Game 15: Gophers Host Purdue (2-23-17)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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One noticeable difference between the Boilers and Gophers is that Purdue defeated Michigan State twice. Purdue averages 68.1 points per game while giving up a B1G low of 62.7.

In their last outing, Purdue rallied in the second half chasing the Hawkeyes back to Iowa City.

https://purdue.rivals.com/news/seniors-lead-purdue-rally-over-iowa

Purdue (17-11 overall, 8-6 in the Big Ten) couldn’t have been much worse in the first half, then much better in the second. The Boilermakers committed 16 turnovers in the first 20 minutes — ten in the first quarter alone — in falling behind 35-25 at the break.

But in the second, Purdue didn’t commit a turnover until 90 seconds into the fourth quarter, after it had outscored Iowa (16-11, 7-7) 25-5 in the third quarter. The Boilermakers poured in the first dozen points of the second half, holding the Hawkeyes without a point for 5:20 and without a field goal for two minutes more.

Plus, Purdue was dominant on the glass, grabbing a 20-5 edge in the first eight minutes of the third, the last of those boards by Perry leading to a free throw and a 46-38 lead. Moments later, Andreona Keys scored on a fast-break layup to give Purdue a 10-point lead.

“Coach came in and gave a nice (halftime) speech,” deadpanned Ashley Morrissette, who scored a game-high 25 points, with six rebounds, six assists and five steals. “We just had to wake up and realize that not only were we fighting for the win, but we were fighting (for) a much bigger cause. I think that’s what sparked us. We were a little out of sync in the first half, but we definitely looked like one team, one heartbeat in the second half.”

Perry in particular looked changed after the break. The captain had eight of her season-high 11 rebounds in the second half, plus all six of her points. She played only 10 ineffective minutes in the first while picking up three fouls, two of them offensive.

“Honestly, I just kind of got pissed off,” Perry said, explaining her surge.




B1G Wins: Michigan State, 68-54; Penn State, 64-51; @ Wisconsin, 79-57; @ Michigan State, 76-66; Nebraska, 88-45; @ Illinois, 72-64; @ Rutgers, 55-42; Iowa, 72-52.

B1G Losses: @ Northwestern, 76-60; Ohio State, 61-56; @ Indiana, 74-60; Maryland, 85-70; Michigan, 72-62; @ Penn State, 79-73.



Probable Starters with B1G Stats:

Bridget Perry: 6’2” F Sr. (10.3 points/game and 4.9 rebounds/game) 27.9 minutes/game
Ae’Rianna Harris: 6’1” F Fr (8.0 points and 5.4 rebounds) 22.4 minutes
Ashley Morissette: 5’9” G Sr (17. 6 points) 35.1 minutes
Andreona Keys: 5’10” G Jr (10.5 minutes and 5.8 rebounds) 33.6 minutes
Dominique Oden: 5’8” G Fr (9.6 points) 32.1 minutes


Others:

Dominique McBryde: 6’2” F So. (7.6 points and 6.8 rebounds) 30.2 minutes
Lamina Cooper: 5’9” G Fr. (3.5 points) 17.6 minutes
 






It's damn hard to play Purdue without a center. And its deadly if Purdue can get Morissette open while Wagner is hounded. Tinjum made some good drives down the lane; but we really needed a center.

The officiating crew was Sue Blauch, Felicia Grinter and Cameron Inouye-about as experienced a crew as you can get. One semi-interesting note, it was Hubbard, Brunson and T Bello that met the referees for the pregame confab at mid-court and not the captains.


Minutes Played with Starters Bolded:

39 Wagner
39 Bell
29 Tinjum
29 Hubbard
20 T Bello
19 Edwards
12 Brunson
11 Hedstrom
1 Fernstrom
1 Starr

http://www.purduesports.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2016-2017/game29.html
 

It's damn hard to play Purdue without a center. And its deadly if Purdue can get Morissette open while Wagner is hounded. Tinjum made some good drives down the lane; but we really needed a center.

Are we sure we don't have one? Did Fernstrom really get a fair look for this team? Given her size, you'd think Stollings could get some use out of her. Maybe she started out slowly because she was coming off a full year of sitting out? Looking at her stats from ISU, she averaged nearly double as a Freshman what we are getting out of Bello. I like Edwards, but she is what she is: a low floor with low ceiling player who is great to have as a reserve.
This year:
## Player gp-gs min avg fg-fga fg% 3fg-fga 3fg% ft-fta ft% off def tot avg pf dq a to blk stl pts avg
10 Jessie Edwards 27-14 558 20.7 70-118 . 5 9 3 0-0 . 0 0 0 55-87 . 6 3 2 68 119 187 6.9 54 1 15 25 44 8 195 7.2
05 Taiye Bello 24-11 310 12.9 36-85 . 4 2 4 0-0 . 0 0 0 24-44 . 5 4 5 60 55 115 4.8 49 0 4 21 8 6 96 4.

Fernstrom at ISU last year:
44 Fernstrom, Bryanna. 15-12 310 20.7 55-122 .451 3-18 .167 24-40 .600 23 77 100 6.7 30 0 4 14 34 9 137 9.1

Her Freshman year summary from ISU write up:
2014-15
Played in all 31 games for the Cyclones and started 25 games…averaged 9.0 points, 3.2 boards and 1.2 blocks per game…scored in double figures in nine games this season and recorded one double-double…finished the season with 36 blocks, which is the second-most blocks in school history among freshman at Iowa State…netted 25 points in Iowa State’s season opener against USC Upstate, which was the most points scored by an ISU freshman in a career debut…her performance earned her the season’s first Big 12 Freshman of the Week award (Nov. 17) …scored 20 points and tacked on 11 rebounds for her first career double-double against Fairfield, where her performance earned her a second Big 12 freshman of the week honor (Dec. 22)…tallied 18 points against Howard…recorded eight points, five rebounds and three blocks as Iowa State toppled No. 3 Texas…totaled 18 points against TCU, while shooting 61.5 percent from the field and nabbed her third Big 12 freshman weekly honor (Jan. 26)…racked up 23 points against Oklahoma State while shooting 64.7 percent from the field…netted 19 points at Texas Tech…scored six points off 2-of-3 shooting as ISU toppled No. 3 Baylor.


At this point in the season I'm frustrated. Last nights game was hard to watch. Our zone offense is so bad. Stollings answer seems to be let Bell and Wagner just do their thing and hope for the best. Bello's first series was telltale of what we were going to get out of the post in this game as she basically got stuffed when she turned and faced the rim. She's a 4 in my opinion and needs to develop her game from 15 feet and in and rebound as she doesn't have the size to dominate on the blocks. Wagner can do no wrong and it's almost like this team wait for her to do her thing like they did with Banham, but she just isn't as efficient as Banham. The team needs to play like a team, instead of just individual one on one ballers.

At 14-14 we have to expect we will lose at Maryland, which puts us below .500 on the year. Will need to win at least two games in Big Ten tourney to even get to WNIT as I believe you have to have at least a .500 record don't you?
 

gophsfan said:
At this point in the season I'm frustrated. Last nights game was hard to watch. Our zone offense is so bad. Stollings answer seems to be let Bell and Wagner just do their thing and hope for the best. Bello's first series was telltale of what we were going to get out of the post in this game as she basically got stuffed when she turned and faced the rim. She's a 4 in my opinion and needs to develop her game from 15 feet and in and rebound as she doesn't have the size to dominate on the blocks. Wagner can do no wrong and it's almost like this team wait for her to do her thing like they did with Banham, but she just isn't as efficient as Banham. The team needs to play like a team, instead of just individual one on one ballers.

At 14-14 we have to expect we will lose at Maryland, which puts us below .500 on the year. Will need to win at least two games in Big Ten tourney to even get to WNIT as I believe you have to have at least a .500 record don't you?
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Yes, I still think Fernstrom can be the five; but she played herself onto the bench during the B1G season. Even last night, in a minute of play, Fernstrom caught the ball in the lane, faced up to the hoop and then took a step back before shooting. An easy travel call with a quick recall to the bench. Edwards and T Bello brought some effort to the game but picked last night to start tossing the ball at the basket hoping it would drop.

The offense, especially early in the game, was a Pam Borton specal with guards dribbling back and forth around the perimeter. (Purdue could occasionally make five or six passes and pop Morissette open for a three.) And still, with four minutes left to play in the third quarter it was 41-40 Purdue with Edwards going to the line. Unfortunately, Jesse missed them both, Purdue capitalized on a couple of Gopher mistakes and that was that.
 

You're right about Bello being a 4 instead of a post. She'll have to work on her shooting in order to be a good 4. Although I'm glad to see Bello getting some good minutes, it seems that those minutes have had a negative effect on Edwards, who didn't play well at all against Purdue. Not much last night from Hubbard, Brunson, or T. Bello. Wagner, Bell, and Tinjum all seemed to play fairly well. WNIT or not? Who cares? This isn't a team that deserves any postseason play. They're going to finish 5-11 in conference play.
 



tripledouble said:
You're right about Bello being a 4 instead of a post. She'll have to work on her shooting in order to be a good 4. Although I'm glad to see Bello getting some good minutes, it seems that those minutes have had a negative effect on Edwards, who didn't play well at all against Purdue. Not much last night from Hubbard, Brunson, or T. Bello. Wagner, Bell, and Tinjum all seemed to play fairly well. WNIT or not? Who cares? This isn't a team that deserves any postseason play. They're going to finish 5-11 in conference play.
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Would like to see two of our three big girls play on the floor together instead of it always being one or the other. Instead of playing Hubbard or Brunson when you pull out Tinjum, change it up and double up with our bigs. At this point, what would it hurt? It's not like our quick up tempo transition game is doing all that much. Maybe it would allow you to sneek Bello out in transition if you had another big in there for rebounding?
 

Well, the quick benching of Fernstrom last night is something that's happened all season with Gopher players. I've never liked the ideas of yanking players off the floor after a quick mistake. Multiple quick mistakes...sure. In watching last night's game, I was thinking about how this club and this prorgram still doesn't have an identity. I was under the impression that Stollings wanted to recruit more athletic players who could get up and down the court. Players like Fernstrom, Edwards, and Hedstrom are not all that athletic. And as good as Wagner is, she's not quick or fast. The bottom line is that Stollings is eventually going to have to determine what kind of team she wants to have and then recruit (and play) those players. In watching Fernstrom for just half a season, I'm wondering why Stollings even offered her a scholarship as a transfer. That's not necessarily a knock on Fernstrom...it's more of a knock on Stollings. If you're not going to play a transfer like Fernstrom, why even waste your time in signing her. It's my feeling that both Edwards and Fernstrom should be sharing the post duties and Bello (and Tinjum) should be sharing the duties at the 4. Hedstrom has received a lot of PT at the 4 this year and a lot of that time has been wasted, as she's undersized and underskilled for that position and it would have been better if that time had been given to Bello. Is Bello the perfect 4? Not now, as she needs to develop a jump shot before she's a good player at that position. But, experience at that position would have been good for her, as I'm convinced that's her position.

The inconsistency in playing time for various players this year has been mind-boggling. Bell and Wagner get consistent minutes, and Hubbard has received somewhat consistent minutes when healthy, but none of the other players can possibly know whether they'll play a lot or hardly play at all from night-to-night. Fernstrom has gone from starting to hardly playing at all; Edwards has gone from starter to bench player; Hedstrom has gone from starting to about 10 minutes in games; Kaposi got some minutes for a while and now she is MIA again. Seniors Starr and Barnes missing in action this year. It goes on and on....(as do I). If you watch Pitino's men's team, they have a consistent rotation. Stollings hasn't had that all year. In fairness, her team hasn't had the success that Pitino's team has had and she should have some leeway in trying to find a lineup combo that works best. But she's had the whole season to do that and she's not any further along that she was in the non-conference part of the schedule. In my opinion, this will show up at the end of the year with some players probably transferring out. Players like to know where they stand, and this group of players can't possibly know where they stand.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Yes, I still think Fernstrom can be the five; but she played herself onto the bench during the B1G season. Even last night, in a minute of play,

The last game Fernstrom had significant minutes was the home game against Michigan State. 21 minutes 18 pts 10 rebounds, not a bad night. since then
Nebraska 2 mins
Penn state 0 mins
Rutgers 4 mins 2 pts
Northwestern 0 mins
Mich state 6 mins 6 pts
Purdue 1 min
I don't consider putting up 18 pts. in 21 minutes with 10 rebounds playing your way to the bench. Throw in the second Mich state game with 6 pts in 6 mins with 1 rebound and you have a center that scored 24 pts in 27 minutes of play with 11 rebounds.
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Baffled by Fernstrom, too, but isn't the playing-for-time thing more likely to be a reflection of practice than what we see at games? (And, perhaps, it has something to do with conditioning?)
 



gpher said:
The last game Fernstrom had significant minutes was the home game against Michigan State. 21 minutes 18 pts 10 rebounds, not a bad night. since then
Nebraska 2 mins
Penn state 0 mins
Rutgers 4 mins 2 pts
Northwestern 0 mins
Mich state 6 mins 6 pts
Purdue 1 min
I don't consider putting up 18 pts. in 21 minutes with 10 rebounds playing your way to the bench. Throw in the second Mich state game with 6 pts in 6 mins with 1 rebound and you have a center that scored 24 pts in 27 minutes of play with 11 rebounds.
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After the first Michigan State game Stollings said regarding Taiye Bello’s start,

"She earned the right to start in practice. We’re going to reward whoever is fighting for that position in practice. We’ve got a lot of people playing that spot right now, and whoever earns it will be rewarded with the starting position."

Perhaps Bryanna did not play herself out of a positon, rather Taiye Bello played herself into the position. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that Taiye and Jessie are getting the minutes and unless there's an undisclosed injury, I'm left with Stolling's statement on the matter.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
After the first Michigan State game Stollings said regarding Taiye Bello’s start,

"She earned the right to start in practice. We’re going to reward whoever is fighting for that position in practice. We’ve got a lot of people playing that spot right now, and whoever earns it will be rewarded with the starting position."

Perhaps Bryanna did not play herself out of a positon, rather Taiye Bello played herself into the position. Nevertheless, the bottom line is that Taiye and Jessie are getting the minutes and unless there's an undisclosed injury, I'm left with Stolling's statement on the matter.
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Well this must be the case. I guess Stollings wouldn't have liked Allen Iverson all that much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzIPractice ...we talking about practice, not a game, we talking about practice...Vintage Iverson...shaking my head if that's the case. Regardless, wouldn't surprise me given the decisions Borton 2.0 has made. Bello should get some good "practice" tomorrow playing the Terps star center. Hope she's ready because we need to pull the upset!
 

Honestly, if the women are even dreaming about "pulling the upset" against Maryland, they'd be better off waiting and doing it in the B1G tourney, which is the only place it might do them some good at this point.
 

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