B1G Game 2: Gophers host Maryland: (1-1-17)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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First: Rachel Banham

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/122716aac.html

Gopher women's basketball will ring in the New Year with a jersey retirement ceremony for one of its all-time greats, Rachel Banham. A banner for No. 1 will be unveiled prior to Minnesota's Jan. 1, 5 p.m. game against No. 4 Maryland.

Banham, who concluded her Gophers career this past March, is the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer with 3,093 points. She tied the NCAA record with 60 points in a game at Northwestern. Banham's numerous other Minnesota records include her 354 career 3-pointers, and her 119 triples and 28.6 points per game over the course of the 2015-16 season.


Second: Maryland:

Last night Maryland lost 87-81 to UConn. A classic 14-0 Huskie run opening the third quarter staked UConn to a 50-31 lead and provided the necessary cushion. I’d appreciate it if UConn would loan us Gabby Williams for Sunday’s game. Williams not only scored 16 points; she kept jumping the low post pass to Jones and disrupting the Terps. And it would be nice if Walker-Kimbrough and Kristen Confrey could again be 0-7 from three.

Maryland is 12-1. Other than UConn, their schedule has three notable games. In Las Vegas, the Terps crushed Arizona State, 83-42. Maryland charged out to a 38-6 lead and never looked back. Also in Las Vegas, Maryland defeated Washington State 79-69 in a game that was 53-52 Terps at the end of three. And in Louisville, Maryland pulled away from an early fourth quarter 62-62 tie defeating the Cardinals 78-72.


Probable Starters and what they did versus UConn:

Brionna Jones: 6’3” C Sr: (28 minutes, 19 points and 13 rebounds)
Kaila Charles: 6’1” G Fr (36 minutes, 18 points)
Destiny Slocum: 5’7” G Fr (40 minutes, 23 points (19 in the second half)
Kristen Confrey: 5’9” G Jr (33 minutes, 0 points)
S. Walker-Kimbrough: 5’11” G Sr (32 minutes, 10 points)



Useless Note: In Minnesota’s first two losses (Georgia and North Carolina) the Gophers led at the end of the first quarter.

In the next three losses, Minnesota has trailed by double digits at the end of the first: Florida State led 30-17; South Carolina led 24-13; and Ohio State led 29-18. If I counted correctly, against Florida State Minnesota was 5-13 from the field with 2 turnovers; versus South Carolina the Gophers were 5-17 with 3 turnovers and against Ohio State, 5-19 with 4 turnovers. It’s a trend that’s gotta end.
 

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm thinking this game will be a blowout. Maryland is loaded. Did I hear correctly last night that the Terps have 6 McDonald's All-Americans? Slocum may well be the best freshman in the BIG and Charles isn't far behind. Can you imagine this team if Lexi Brown hadn't transferred to Duke? IMO, Confrey is a very one-dimensional player (a shooter) and if Maryland had Lexi Brown at that spot instead of Confrey, they'd have a good shot at a national title. For the Gophers, I'm just hoping that the tough schedule they drew to open the BIG won't get them too discouraged. They'll have chances to win games against most of the other BIG teams not named Maryland and Ohio State...and Indiana on the road. If they can get Wagner out of her shooting funk, better ball decisions from Bell, Hubbard healthy, Fernstrom into the mix....if, if, if...a lot of ifs.
 

tripledouble said:
I hope I'm wrong, but I'm thinking this game will be a blowout. Maryland is loaded. Did I hear correctly last night that the Terps have 6 McDonald's All-Americans? Slocum may well be the best freshman in the BIG and Charles isn't far behind. Can you imagine this team if Lexi Brown hadn't transferred to Duke? IMO, Confrey is a very one-dimensional player (a shooter) and if Maryland had Lexi Brown at that spot instead of Confrey, they'd have a good shot at a national title. For the Gophers, I'm just hoping that the tough schedule they drew to open the BIG won't get them too discouraged. They'll have chances to win games against most of the other BIG teams not named Maryland and Ohio State...and Indiana on the road. If they can get Wagner out of her shooting funk, better ball decisions from Bell, Hubbard healthy, Fernstrom into the mix....if, if, if...a lot of ifs.
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I also see us getting killed. It would take a perfect storm of MD letting down after UConn and us playing a flawless game with tenacious D. Fernstrom will have to dominate and Wagner has to shoot lights out. Team shot 28% @ OSU so it would be hard to shoot worse but MD has so much talent as you mentioned above. I posted earlier that I watched the MD vs UConn game and Destiny Slocum was 5-9 from 3 with many of them 4-5 steps behind the line.
 

Wagner needs to step up big time. Just me, but she road on Banhams coattail last year and has not steeped up this year against quality oppennts.
 

Maryland is a better defensive team than Ohio St, and they've seen the video of the Ohio St game. Think they might use the same back court press? Hopefully the Gophs have practiced breaking the press as a top priority.
 


ruppertflywheel said:
Wagner needs to step up big time. Just me, but she road on Banhams coattail last year and has not steeped up this year against quality oppennts.
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Rode Banham's coattails to what.... the WNIT? Wagner went to the NCAA's her freshman year without Banham's help. What do you mean by "needs to step up"? Do you think she's being lazy? Do you think she doesn't want to do well? If the coaches can't figure out what's going on, I'd say it's a coaching issue.
 

Shades said:
Rode Banham's coattails to what.... the WNIT? Wagner went to the NCAA's her freshman year without Banham's help. What do you mean by "needs to step up"? Do you think she's being lazy? Do you think she doesn't want to do well? If the coaches can't figure out what's going on, I'd say it's a coaching issue.
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I think it is pressure and a " shot " issue. On the "3" shot it looks like she trying to hard to get the shot off to quick. She had some bad misses. And you have to admit Shades, she has not played well on the road.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
I think it is pressure and a " shot " issue. On the "3" shot it looks like she trying to hard to get the shot off to quick. She had some bad misses. And you have to admit Shades, she has not played well on the road.
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Yes, her shot is off -- currently, she has a worse shooting percentage than anyone on the team other than Kaposi, who has only taken five shots -- but I'm going to agree with Shades here. That is a very different thing than your original comment, which I don't think is fair or accurate.
 

thatjanelpick said:
Yes, her shot is off -- currently, she has a worse shooting percentage than anyone on the team other than Kaposi, who has only taken five shots -- but I'm going to agree with Shades here. That is a very different thing than your original comment, which I don't think is fair or accurate.
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Ok, I'll give you that. I could've phrased it better. Stiil, at this point I don't think she has elevated her game to level you would expect from her freshman year.
 



This year from the foul line Carlie is 36-50 (.720), last year she was 94-118 (.797) and her freshman year 32-41 (.780). Carlie's free throw percentage is down; but she is still drawing fouls a rate similar to last season. Driving the lane was a major change Stollings made to Wagner's game.

From the three point line: this season Carlie is 36-119 (.303); last season she was 60-182 (.330); and during her freshman year, 64-192 (.333).
 

We could all sit here and focus on one player because the defense certainly does, but the whole team has to play better as a group. It does hurt that one of our shooters that being Hubbard is not playing. Stollings has to use the big girls more effectively.
 


Wagner now gets the best perimeter defender could also be a factor.

They're playing well now early in the second. 28-24 MAR
 



Had the lead down to 4 and then all those bad passes
 




Yes, I thought for a while that we might be celebrating two Gopher victories. I know that "almost" doesn't count, but the women played hard. A good team effort with major contributions from Wagner and Bell. B. Jones was the difference for Maryland. She won the inside battle against Fernstrom, who will probably play Jones better the next time they meet. Surprising minutes, good minutes, from Kaposi. Maybe she'll be a player. As I've said before, I hope the ladies don't get too discouraged by this tough schedule to start conference play. Better days will be ahead if they continue to play hard as they did against Maryland.
 

Four turnovers in the first minute and a half set off some groans. But the Gophers overcame the turnovers to close within 68-67 (after Hedstrom's three) with 6:10 remaining. Both teams scored 19 points off turnovers. I think a good number of Gopher turnovers were unforced.

Note: On the UConn/Maryland TV broadcast the announcers said Brenda had mellowed in her approach to referees. Don't believe it. She was in full rant mode today.

Other Notes: Edwards was out with an Illness and assistant coach Tamisha Augustin was on crutches and wearing a boot.




Starters:

Hedstrom
Tinjum
Fernstrom
Bell
Wagner

Minutes Played:

40 Hedstrom: 4-4 from three, 12 points, 8 rebounds and 4 turnovers
40 Wagner: the return of 20 point Carlie was welcome
37 Tinjum: 9 points
36 Fernstrom: 8 points and 7 rebounds (she had a tough time battling Jones)
30 Bell: 19 points, 8 assists and 7 turnovers (Damn, she can really play)
10 Brunson: Held things together when Bell picked up her early second foul.
4 Lamke: Gave Fernstrom some brief rest and added some energy to the floor and the bench.
3 Kaposi: scored at the 3rd quarter buzzer and hustled her way around the court to applause.
0+ Starr: She came in and turned the ball over on a bad pass. Allina let out a screech as soon she realized the mistake. She came out.
 

What's going on with Barnes?

Appreciate Hedstrom's shooting today, but she had the most gut-wrenching turnovers. Miss Hubbard's ball-handling.

Fernstrom missed some bunnies, 3-11 on the day. Not good for a center.

Seemed like Wagner shot better than the stats show. Still too many of those flick-threes.

Can't be too mad about the result, considering who they had out. I didn't like the way the game ended. Why were they forcing the ball to Fernstrom when they needed threes to catch up at the end?
 

Oh, and Wagner was 1-4 from FT. Something weird is going on there.
 

I believe the sign board said the Wisconsin game is K Barnes game, so we should at least see her.
 

Here's a breakdown of yesterday's turnovers. The bolded turnovers were attempts to get the ball inside to Fernstrom (and once to Kaposi). All in all, There were more decision turnovers than pressure turnovers.

Nothing to do with turnovers; but with 1:33 remaining and the score 77-72, I wanted Kaile Charles to be called for running into Tinjum. The bump forced Tinjum into the ball and the ball out of bounds. Initially called off Maryland; after video review the ball was awarded to Maryland.



First Quarter:

1. 9:25: Bell -entry pass to Fernstrom intercepted (Fernstrom was only briefly open)
2. 9:17: Hedstrom-rebounded missed shot had the ball poked away from behind
3. 8:56: Wagner-lob to Fernstrom goes out of bounds
4. 8:38: Bell-pass was tipped and then Bell committed a foul
5. 5:12: Bell-drove the land and pass was tipped away
6. 3:45: Starr-threw the ball back to mid-court directly to Walker-Kimbrough
7. 0:36 Brunson-had pass tipped away
8. 0:27 Brunson-charge


Second Quarter

9. 6:38: Hedstrom-lob to Fernstrom grabbed by Jones
10. 6:10: Hedstrom-diagonal press breaking pass intercepted
11. 5:33: Brunson-under pressure attempted lob to Fernstrom
12. 2:10 Team-shot clock violation


Third quarter

13. 6:09: Wagner-Travel in the lane
14. 2:53: Wagner-drives the lane and ball tipped away
15. 2:23: Bell-bounce pass to Fernstrom tipped away


Fourth Quarter

16. 9:34: Kaposi-grabbed rebound and fell to floor with Jones (not sure why this was a turnover. It was called a jump ball (could have been a travel or out of bounds))
17. 7:23: Bell-wrap around pass to Fernstrom intercepted
18. 6:35 Bell-tried wrap around pass to Fernstrom but stepped on baseline
19. 5:01: Wagner-steps on baseline while presumably trying to pass to Kaposi. Ball goes out of bounds in corner
20. 1:11: Hedstrom-Attempted lob to Fernstrom
21. 0:04: Bell-attempted lob to Fernstrom
 

Thanks for that. The multiple turnovers passing into the post were reminding me of the Zoe Harper/AEM days, not in a good way. Good to know there really were as many as it seemed like there were. Dribbling along the baseline also proved perilous virtually every time it was attempted, for some reason.
 

Nobody knows what's going on with Barnes? If she was available, it's hard to believe she wouldn't get time before Lamke
 

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