B1G Tourney Game 1: Gophers v Penn State (3-4-20)


Nice to see us play better as a team after Sunday's blow out .
 


They must have messed up on the live stats.

Anybody think Whalen should have pulled the starters a little sooner?

According to ESPN Ross did enter the game at the end. Why would we burn a redshirt for at most a 3-4 games at the end of a rebuilding season?
 

20 assists? Rebounding improved in the second half. Good for Brunson as a senior leading this team, would love for her to continue her impressive play in this tourne
 


According to ESPN Ross did enter the game at the end. Why would we burn a redshirt for at most a 3-4 games at the end of a rebuilding season?
She didnt play, she wasnt even in uniform.
 

They must have messed up on the live stats.

Anybody think Whalen should have pulled the starters a little sooner?
I didn't. Of course, I was just happy for the players and coaches instead of looking for something negative.
 

11-23 from three is nice! And Brunson going 4-7 from behind the arc is nicer! Bring the threes against the Buckeyes!
 

She hasnt played.
The scoreboard showed 24 as playing but it was really 14.
Between the 3rd and 4th quarters I was watching the team huddle to see if they would start to tighten up. But Whalen must have said something because the entire team just cracked up laughing and all smiles Must have been a good sign.
 



Ross is playing? Secret weapon?
She hasnt played.
By the way, box score shows Justice Ross played a fraction of a minute. Whay must have had the discussion with her, "Do you want that extra year of eligibility from the red-shirt, or would you rather play a game (or five) this year? Apparently, the latter.
We just aren't gonna be a great 2 pt shooting team because were so small, knocking down 3's and getting to the ft line are the keys to this offense.
Yup, although FT shooting was a little low today, but that's our only complaint (other than we need to tighten up defense against true playmakers on the other team, and not give them such open looks from three). Two-point shooting was great today, after about four-out-of-last-five games of below .400 two-point shooting.

FG% = .485 (32-66)
3P% = .478 (11-23) - for 33 points
2P% = .488 (21-43 ) - for 42 points
FT% = .667 (10-15) - for 10 points
Rebounds Margin = -4 (37-41) - caught up a bit on the half-time rebound deficit
Assist Margin = +10 (20-10)
Turnover Margin = -4 (15-19)
Steals Margin = +5 (11-6)
Minnesota Assist:Turnover Ratio = 20:15 = 1.333 - those extra assists led to scores
Penn State Assist:Turnover Ratio = 10:19 = 0.526

Diva Hubbard shooting 4-6 from deep, 2-2 from two, ,750 total on field goals
Jaz Brunson shooting 4-7 from deep - being engaged seems to suit Jasmine quite well, so far
Taiye Bello shooting 7-12, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 assists, 1 steal - for her 12th double-double on the season
 
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By the way, box score shows Justice Ross played a fraction of a minute. Whay must have had the discussion with her, "Do you want that extra year of eligibility from the red-shirt, or would you rather play a game (or five) this year? Apparently, the latter.
No matter what the box score says she did not play, she was on the bench in sweats.
 

No matter what the box score says she did not play, she was on the bench in sweats.
Mistake in the box score, I guess.

I'm in favor of her playing, if she's healthy and her added height is just what it takes to advance another game in the B1G tournament. I mean, maybe she'd just as soon graduate in 4 years and then move on to grad school or career.

Assuming that she does stick to the (default) red-shirt plan, I hope the mistake in the box score doesn't interfere with her red-shirt application. Somebody in the Athletic Dept. office better get on that, and file an appeal for the correction to the box score. Fortunately, they will have video tape to go to.

The fear though, is that in some leagues, once the officials present the final scorecard (or electronic version thereof) and both coaches sign it, it becomes cast in stone and is no longer reviewable. Not sure what NCAA/Big-Ten policy is on possibility for appeal of box-score results. I'm guessing you (obviously) can't change the Won/Lost or score or other scoring-related factors, but hopefully you can correct minor details that impact future eligibility for red-shirting.
 
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With this game, Taiye Bello reaches 1,001 career rebounds - the 5th player in program history to break the 1,000 barrier! And with only two years as a full-time starter.

She is still 33 points shy of 1,000. Here's to having four more Big-Ten playoff games at about 9 Taiye points per game.

Go Gophers!
 
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Post Game Presser:

March 4, 2020

Lindsay Whalen
Jasmine Powell


Indianapolis, Indiana

Minnesota - 85, Penn State - 65.

Q. What didn't you do in the second quarter that you did in the third?
LINDSAY WHALEN: We sat down in stance and defended. They only had 23 points in the third. In the second half we said, we have to get to McDaniel. We had to get to McDaniel. They only scored 13 in the third, and Frazier. So I felt like we did that better. I think we helped in more on those guys.

So overall it was just a much better just attention to those two, because at the end of the second quarter, they were just getting anything they wanted because they were putting their heads down and going. Us clogging the paint, making them kick was what we needed to do.

Q. A lot of offense off your defense, too.
LINDSAY WHALEN: Yeah, that's the name of the game. That's when every team is really good, if you can get stops and then run and you're playing in more broken-floor situations. Against a team like that, when you have two dynamic players as they do, it's all about getting to stop them, making them kick to somebody else and then closeout and respect that they're good players and they're here for a reason, but make somebody else but those two beat us. I thought that we did that in the third quarter.

Q. Were you a little frustrated after the second quarter?
LINDSAY WHALEN: Yeah, we all were, but you can't play frustrated and you can't show it. You have to dig in, and that's something our team has worked on time and time again, over and over and over again this season, and when we fight through it, when we get through it, really good things happen for us, so it was exciting for us to see as coaches us just be able to power through and stick together in that third.

Q. How important was it to get off to a good start after the last game? You said you definitely didn't want to end the season that way.
LINDSAY WHALEN: Yeah, so up 13-3, that was big, coming out and making a statement right away. We always say we need to punch first, and I thought we did that. All in all, it was good for us to come out and have that start that we had. Obviously you don't want to have the second quarter and even the lull at the end of the first, but to start the way we did was definitely good.

Q. I've heard of players playing out of their mind but not out of their shoe.
LINDSAY WHALEN: Yeah, it was tremendous. She gets her 1,000th rebound as a Gopher, so nothing but good things to say about her and her performance tonight.

She struggled in the second quarter, but man, her start and the way she played in the third quarter was really everything we needed, and I thought she was so good at both ends of the floor.

Q. Seems like when you guys are going well offensively that Powell is just a part of it in some way, whether it's a steal or whether it's passing. She seems like a spark plug.
LINDSAY WHALEN: She was. She was. She was somebody who was there all night. A couple turnovers early, but you know, I thought that whether it was an assist or hitting the roll-around in the drive-and-pick, hit a big three, hits a big step-back jumper at the end of the third, which was a big momentum play to get us back up 12 going into the fourth. That was big for us.

It was fun to see her, and it's been fun to see her maturity continue to grow and grow this year.

Q. Career high for Brunson?
LINDSAY WHALEN: Brunson, career high, yep. She had four threes. Then we went to just some mid-pick at the end, and she hits two jumpers. Just nothing short of amazing for her tonight. Got to go back, get these guys off their legs and get some rest because we've got another one tomorrow.

Q. You were pretty unhappy with the way that last Ohio State game went. Are you glad to have another crack at them?
LINDSAY WHALEN: Absolutely. You know, there's been a handful of games this season that I feel like got away from us, and that was one of them. They're a great team, he's a great coach, so we're definitely coming out here with a mindset that it's a new game, a new day, and we're excited to still be here and moving on.

Jasmine Powell

Q. You came in and really changed the tempo every time you were in. Is that part of your game plan as a player, or is that different just for every game?
JASMINE POWELL: That's what I try to do like every game. I think maybe that's part of my game. That's what I try to implement is changing the pace when I get out there and try to do my best to change the way the game is going, whether good or bad. But yeah, you could say that's in my game.

Q. This is your first Big Ten Tournament; how does that feel?
JASMINE POWELL: It feels great. As you could see in the beginning, I was a little nervous, but I just tried to get rid of the butterflies and put us out.

Q. There was a big difference between the first half and the second half. What changes did you make at halftime that really fixed that?
JASMINE POWELL: I think my mindset, going in, just a little bit nervous and kind of turned the ball over a little bit, not playing my game. And then the second half, kind of just slowing down and getting more comfortable out there. I think that was the biggest change
 




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