B1G Game 8: Gophers Host Wisconsin (1-22-20)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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As Sure As Sure Can Be​

Jonathan Tsipis, in his fourth season as Wisconsin (1-6 B1G) head coach, is finding that turning around the Badger program is harder than U-turning an eight oared racing shell on Lake Mendota. There’s no wheel to crank. In the last three seasons the team’s B1G record was 3-13, 2-14 and 4-14. The best finish in the Big Ten Standings was 11th in his first season. Adding in this season’s record you have 10-47 in almost 3 ½ years of B1G Conference play.

Yes, Tsipis inherited a history of bad Badger basketball which we don’t need to recount in any detail. Suffice it to say that a program which last appeared in the NCAA tournament in the 2009-10 season has difficulties. And even that NCAA appearance was Wisconsin’s first in seven seasons. Even more damning is that the Badgers last WNIT appearance was a year later in 2010-11.

Nevertheless, before we get too high and mighty, the Gophers entered Sunday’s game versus Purdue tied with the Badgers with a 1-5 conference record. However, shortly after Minnesota went on a 19-0 run to put away the Boilermakers in West Lafayette, the Badgers were in the early stages of discarding a 15 point half time lead over Iowa in route to handing the Hawkeye’s a win in Madison. As a result, Minnesota enters Wednesday’s game leading by a nose in the standings.

Gopher Optimism

A win by a nose is still a win and the Gophers have won 13 straight from the Badgers. The last Gopher loss to Wisconsin was in January 2012. This includes routing the Badgers twice last season. The first was 74-56 victory in Minneapolis which was notable for Annalese Lamke scoring 20 points in 32 minutes. Lamke was 6-7 from the field and 8-10 from the line in one of the most crowd pleasing performances of any season. In that game, Minnesota won the first quarter 17-7 and the third quarter 23-12. There were no Badgers in double figures: Suzanne Gilreath had 9 points, Niya Beverly 8, Abby Laszewski 7, and Kendra Van Leeuwen 4.

The return match in Madison was an even easier 78-50 Gopher victory. Minnesota won each quarter and the Wisconsin native, Lamke, was the second leading scorer with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Kenisha Bell led the scoring with 25 points. For the Badgers: the now graduated Marsha Howard had 10, Laszewski 9, Van Leeuwen 4, Lewis 6 and Gilreath 3.

Badger Optimism

This season was supposed to be better for the Badgers; but they have suffered injuries: Carmen Backes and Courtney Fredrickson most notably. However, their best three players, forwards Imani Lewis and Abby Laszewski and freshman guard Sydney Hillard cannot be ignored.

Nevertheless, the Badgers rank 13th in B1G offense scoring 61.3 points a game (Minnesota averages 67.7). Part of the Badgers offensive woes is the lack of a three point offense. They are 26-96 (.271) compared to Minnesota’s 50-131 (.382). I did not adjust for the Pitts factor figuring we can make up the quantity if not the quality. In last week’s presser, Tsipis said he’s encouraging Hillard to shoot more threes as a means of taking pressure off the posts and giving her space to get to the rim. And, of course, you do have to worry a bit about Suzanne Gilreath going on a crazy three point binge; but she’s barely getting double digit minutes/game. Mainly, the Gophers need to defend Lewis who’s averaging double double in B1G play, 17.9 points and 11.3 rebounds.

Giving Up Big Leads (Hitting to Close to Home?)

The most interesting B1G Badgers games are the first, Rutgers, and the latest, Iowa. In Madison the Badgers led Rutgers 47-32 with 3:47 remaining in the third quarter before the Scarlet Knight’s began a comeback. Rutgers out scored the Badgers 20-8 in the fourth quarter to top Wisconsin 64-61. Laszewski led the Badgers with 20 points, Lewis 17 points and 12 rebounds, Hillard 11 and Van Leeuwen 9.

Most recently, the Badgers led Iowa 50-35 at the half in Madison before the Hawkeyes out scored them 50-28 for 85-78 Iowa win. Lewis led the Badgers in scoring with 18 points and 9 rebounds, Beverley 16, Laszewski 9, Hillard 7 and Gilreath 9.


Surely, We can rely on the Gophers keeping the Badger boat sailing in the wrong direction.


B1G Win: Penn State 71-65

B1G Losses: Rutgers 61-64, @ Purdue 61-72, @ Nebraska 50-65, @ Michigan State 52-69, Michigan 56-68, Iowa 78-85



Probable Starters (B1G Stats):

HGTPOSYRPLAYERMINAVGREB
6’1”FSoImani Lewis33.917.911.3
6’3”FSrAbby Laszewski30.910.66.4
5’11”GFrSydney Hillard29.99.43.6
5’7”GJrNiya Beverley30.69.32.1
5’10”GSrKendra Van Leeuwen27.715.13.0


Bench (B1G Stats):

HGTPOSYRPLAYERMINAVGREB
5’4”GSrSuzanne Gilreath12.84.20.5
5’11”FFrTara Stauffacher11.12.11.1
6’0”GFrJulie Pospislova16.32.01.6
6’3”CFrSara Stapleton6.01.01.3
6’2”GRSoAlex Luehring3.30.70.0
 

Rachel Banham will be signing autographs at half time of the Wisconsin game. And, gold pom poms will be available as you enter the Barn on Wednesday night.
 

From the Badger website (adds a little to Iggy's initial post above):

MADISON, WIS.- The Badgers head to Minnesota for their first Border Battle of the season on Wednesday, January 22.

Here are five things to know before tip-off at 7 p.m.

1. Iowa in Review: Wisconsin finished the first half against No. 22 up 50-35. The team ultimately fell to the Hawkeyes but put up a fight for the entire game. Imani Lewis led the team with 19 points. Niya Beverley was close behind with 16. Abby Laszewski recorded her second double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

2. 104 More: Abby Laszewski's 104th career block early in the game against Iowa saw her entry into the top-10 for Wisconsin's all-time career blocks. She is currently tied for 10th with Jacki Gulczynski who set 104 between 2011-2015.

3. Gopher Games: Minnesota is currently 11th in the Big Ten with a conference record of 2-5, 12-6 overall. Their most recent match-up was a win against Purdue on Jan. 19, the final score 72-59. The team is led in scoring by Taiye Bello and Gadiva Hubbard who both average 12.4 ppg. Taiye also leads in rebounds with an average of 9.5

#4 & #5 were how to watch/listen and their next home game.
 

First 5,000 fans receive gold pom poms. It would be nice if they ran out, but based on attendance so far this season, it probably is unlikely.
 

It’d be nice if Powell could be a starter.
 


I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a D1 team miss so many layups as the Gophers, not just this game but all season.
 


Gophers have definitely lost their home court mojo. Couldn‘t stop them in the paint, looked like everyone was afraid to shoot. Credit Wisconsin, great game plan. I think the NCAA’s are now an afterthought, can’t lose to both Wisconsin and Illinois an expect an invite. Very disappointing, very flat performance tonight. Anyone have Pitts on speed dial?
 




Katogopher said:
I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a D1 team miss so many layups as the Gophers, not just this game but all season.
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That’s cuz they don’t resemble a P5 team with their 4 guard lineup and a center the size of a big guard.
 

WHY WHY WHY is masha playing. Her limits are not made up by the few 3s she hits. Taiye looks uninterested in defense. Every team knows just stop Scalia and Hubbard.

Also helped that Wisconsin suddenly learned how to make a free-throw shot that they normally couldn’t make if they life depended on it vs any other team
 

bball_craz_26 said:
WHY WHY WHY is masha playing. Her limits are not made up by the few 3s she hits. Taiye looks uninterested in defense. Every team knows just stop Scalia and Hubbard.

Also helped that Wisconsin suddenly learned how to make a free-throw shot that they normally couldn’t make if they life depended on it vs any other team
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Who are you gonna play over Masha? When they go 2 posts the offense is just clogged up and no one can score.
 




I don’t understand the concept of “clogging” when they’re a 3-pt shooting with poor rebounding. They’re a 3-pt shooting club where the opposition can sag off the paint.
 

bball_craz_26 said:
WHY WHY WHY is masha playing. Her limits are not made up by the few 3s she hits. Taiye looks uninterested in defense. Every team knows just stop Scalia and Hubbard.

Also helped that Wisconsin suddenly learned how to make a free-throw shot that they normally couldn’t make if they life depended on it vs any other team
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Other than Masha Adashchyk who constantly disrupted WI and really pissed off #34, there was no energy or flow in the 2nd half.
 

Another painful loss and it's hard to watch our porous defense. Taiye watched from 5' away as their center made uncontested jump shots @ the free throw line and elbow. She really struggled to get her shot up in the 1st half over a defender who is listed as being 1" taller. She looks disengaged and does not seem to be working as hard on the glass. The silver lining is Scalia and Powell are getting big minutes and making an impact.
 

Shades said:
I don’t understand the concept of “clogging” when they’re a 3-pt shooting with poor rebounding. They’re a 3-pt shooting club where the opposition can sag off the paint.
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This team needs to get into the paint with their guards to score, if u got 2 bigs in there theres no lanes for them. None of our bigs can score outside of 3 feet so it just brings more defenders in the lane. A big that could stretch the floor is exactly what this team needs.
 

The second half was as bad as we've looked with good players, mostly, on the court. No way of getting open for three, no way of scoring on drives, very little offensive production from Taiye and no stopping the Badgers driving the lane.

In the first half, the Badgers couldn't decide what they wanted to do and we nailed three. As everyone noticed, in the second half the Badgers hit the paint on offense and hounded the Gophers at the arc. Tomancova brought some hands of stone tonight. Again, Taiye is our only effective post player.
 

On top of everything written above, we had 2 FT attempts in each half! We made 8 3's. Wisconsin had 10 more FT attempts than we did. Very disappointing especially after taking the lead at the half. The 3rd quarter was a disaster.
 

Minutes Played and Points Scored:

37 Scalia 10
36 Hubbard 12
34 Brunson 12
31 Taiye Bello 9
22 Adashchyk 8
22 Powell 11
15 Tomancova 0
5 Kehinde Bello 0

We were 5-15 from three in the first half and 2-9 in the second.

Lewis had 23 points and 16 rebounds for the Badgers and Laszewski had 12 and 7.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Minutes Played and Points Scored:

37 Scalia 10
36 Hubbard 12
34 Brunson 12
31 Taiye Bello 9
22 Adashchyk 8
22 Powell 11
15 Tomancova 0
5 Kehinde Bello 0

We were 5-15 from three in the first half and 2-9 in the second.

Lewis had 23 points and 16 rebounds for the Badgers and Laszewski had 12 and 7.
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Laszewski had 5 blocks too, Their bigs just dominated us.
 



It also seemed like there was a lot of luck on the Badgers side as well. There seemed to be many shots that were a hope and prayer, desperation that went in (high off the glass, etc.).
 

They could only come up with 51 sec of highlights.
 


whalenfan said:
Who are you gonna play over Masha? When they go 2 posts the offense is just clogged up and no one can score.
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cont
All these losses at home are wearing thin. I like to support the team but it is getting tough seeing them lose so much and buying tickets and putting the effort in to go to games seems less worth it. Losing is contagious, and this team has caught the losing virus. Masha she can defend but cannot hit a layup or bunny hardly at all. Tomnocova lacks mobility and cannot hit easy shots not really a big 10 level player at this time. This season is tiresome already, what was fun early is not much fun anymore, lack of post is killing this team.
 

> When they go 2 posts the offense is just clogged up and no one can score.

The offense need not be clogged up with 2 posts. Need to (not all the time but some good percent of the time) play 2 posts on the left/right short corner three-point lines. Leaves the entire interior of the three-point circle wide open. Ya think that’s enough room for Powell to go to work (without having two 6’2”+ right there to stuff her)? Yup. Brunson? Yup. Diva/Scalia/Masha? Yup/yup/yup. And we send our two posts into that action either in parallel or as rebounding cleanup or one of each.

Taiye works a lot better when she’s running in from the outside, anyway - she’s great at out-running or out-maneuvering her opponent. And on the way running in, they can spot where the rebound is likely to go. And with two posts running in from left and right, we have a chance for an offensive rebound whether a miss bounces left or right.

And how bout a play setup for Taiye starting from the (right, let’s say for example) short three-point line. A guard screens for a point guard, who then drives the paint on the left, while meanwhile another off guard sets a screen for Taiye, who now heads to the paint with only a guard defending her (who she can probably out-run but certainly out-height), and meanwhile their best rebounder is stuck out in the right-field bleacher seats behind the screen-then-blockout, watching the play with binoculars.

Why is it that our only play for (single-post) Taiye is passing it in to her in the low post where two (Wisconsin, in this case, but fill in the blank with your favorite upcoming opponent) taller defending posts lay waiting all set to stuff her.

Another two-post offensive configuration that still clogs up the paint much less than having Taiye just standing around right next to the paint where the coaches tell her to park until she’s needed to set a screen for a guard (which puts her out of rebounding position), is the classic high-low. As an example, let’s talk about Tomancova up in the high post, either the free-throw semicircle, or maybe even higher near or on the high three-point line. She has strong arms for passing and court vision of the whole half-court from there. Meanwhile, Taiye is moving back and forth along the baseline, trying to get open, or else having an off guard screen for her. Again, if she gets the ball on the run in the low post, she’s much more effective then when they have her stand still so two post defenders can hang on her like glue. I know high-post ball has gone out of style a bit, what with having the guards pass and dribble the ball aimlessly behind the three-point line (until the shot clock runs out) being all the rage and everything. But there’s a million plays you can initiate from the high post. Plus, having someone tall like Tomancova or Kehinde or Klarke in the high post is an incredibly fast and efficient way to reverse the ball from strong side to a shooting guard spotted up in the weak side via strong to post to weak (who might be wide open). And when the defense gets used to having to rapidly shift from one side to the other all the time, then in the confusion the high post might find Taiye open in the low post. Tomancova might be good in the very high post since she has a credible three-point shot. Kehinde is developing a three-point shot but perhaps not green-lighted yet to shoot the trey from the top three-point line. Don’t make me wax Tolstoyian on this - just trust me, there’s a ton of ways to play two posts without clogging up the paint. Just look at all the ways Wisconsin was able to do it.

So, Tsipis had a very simple but effective game plan that shut us down. His plan amounted to: “No matter how many posts you can play, I can play one better.”

When we went to two posts, they sometimes went to three. Or if not three posts, then maybe a six-foot guard plus two posts. I swear, if we went to four posts, Tsipis would have gone to two six-foot guards plus three posts.

Tsipis plan was really just a corollary to the Theorem: “You can’t win in the Big Ten without two good posts.”

We have one great post plus three sometimes-decent-but-not-consistent posts. The Big Ten is just too big this year, and getting bigger every year. We really needed Cumming’s extra inch badly tonight.

Wisconsin had 6 blocks, we had 2. Wisconsin had 54 points in the paint, we had 30. Wisconsin had 41 rebounds, we had 36. Furthermore, of our 36, 19 were offensive and 17 were defensive - which typically bodes well since that’s a high rate of offensive rebounding; however, on many/most of those offensive rebounds, Wisconsin either blocked the putback, or they pushed us around in the paint (almost never a foul call) often resulting in a missed putback. Lewis, in particular, was bulldozing our players out of the way all night with impunity, until she finally got caught for one when she stiff-armed Masha to the ground.

Basically, our team is better than Wisconsin; but collectively, Wisconsin’s posts are better than our posts (with Taiye valiantly trying to play her one post against their two posts much of the time). It’s the Big Ten, so better-posts trumps better-team.

Last year, we were able to squeak by at least some of the time by playing small ball for about 3 quarters and double-posts for about 1 quarter. But Lamke was just better (better shooter, better defender) and physically stronger than our three bench posts this year.
 
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gophersports.com

Postgame Quotes - University of Minnesota Athletics

Postgame Quotes
gophersports.com gophersports.com

Post-Game Quotes:

Minnesota Head Coach LIndsay Whalen:

On points in the paint being a deciding factor: “In Big Ten play they averaged 31 points per game, and our goal was to keep them to 27, but they got 54. It’s tough when you give up points in the point and then shoot 37 percent; it’s a tough combination. Obviously we have to regroup for Indiana, but again we need to look and see what we need to do against these guys because we face them again in two weeks. (Imanin) Lewis was tremendous; she was unbelievable. They kind of played off of her and fed off of her energy. Give them credit.”

On struggling offensively in the third quarter: “In the third, we go 3-17. I liked a lot of the looks that we got. Taiye [Bello] got us a ton of extra ones at that point. She had eight offensive rebounds. They’re very big inside and were running our shooters off of the line and had just enough length for the mid-range, as well. Like I said, give (Wisconsin) credit. A lot of those shots we normally knock down. This team doesn’t, for most quarters, go 3-17. There was just a stretch there where we couldn’t buy a basket.”

On only having four free throws: “Like I said, give (Wisconsin) credit for walling up. There were a couple times that they went in and felt like they should’ve gotten free throws. Give (Imani) Lewis and No. 14 [Abby Laszewski] credit for walling up. They ran us off of the line and into their big guys. We had a couple opportunities to make it over them, but they’re big so give them credit.”

Minnesota Junior Gadiva Hubbard

On how the team gets past this loss: “Just shaking this game off and focusing on the next game. We can’t dwell on this game too much or it will lead into the next game. So just taking this next day, getting out of our heads, and then turning the page.”

On if the loss hits harder because of the 13-game winning streak lost or the rivalry: “I think any loss stings, honestly, we don’t really pay attention to how many wins that we have against them, every team in the Big Ten is good, so that’s how we take it. Any loss is a bad thing; we don’t like losing.”
 

GringaGopher said:
Another painful loss and it's hard to watch our porous defense. Taiye watched from 5' away as their center made uncontested jump shots @ the free throw line and elbow. She really struggled to get her shot up in the 1st half over a defender who is listed as being 1" taller. She looks disengaged and does not seem to be working as hard on the glass. The silver lining is Scalia and Powell are getting big minutes and making an impact.
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I couldn't agree more. It was difficult watching what seemed to be a general lack of effort and passion from Taiye. For most of the game, she definitely looked disengaged and apathetic. Sad to see this - it seems that the recent events are taking a toll.
 

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