Ben Johnson: “We lost our edge. Even though we were up the energy, the vibe wasn’t what it needed to be. We got low into their pace.”

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MUgopher32 said:
Ben has to do a better job of not letting the team get complacent with leads.

If he gets credit for 2nd half comebacks, he also has to wear the collapses. Garcia or not, took the foot off the gas on offense while Iowa went pedal to the metal.

Payne also has got to be better. You cant be a total liability at the line while also committing silly fouls over and over while also today not converting the shots you did take when not fouled. Hes also a total black hole when he gets the ball, like passing is simply something he cant even try to do.

Kid has a load of potential to be a monster as an upperclassman, but hes got to had some diversity to his game.
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Cbj only gets credit from many posters.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
There were some. But also some very stupid and correctly called fouls. Hawkins (I think it was him, been a long day) fouled on a very deep 3 at the end of the clock. It was a very clear and very dumb foul. And it hurt the team a lot. So maybe there were some soft calls against the gophers. But a lot of it they did to themselves.

There was also a block/charge late that was a charge on Carrington but called a block incorrectly. Amazingly—no one wants to discuss those types of plays in here.
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I'm not sure anyone is claiming there weren't any bad calls against Iowa. There were. But the calls definitely favored them. Perkins just flat out stiffed armed Hawkins out of the way right in front of the ref and no call. It was a poorly officiated game. We still should have overcome it and won. But it definitely played a factor in the result.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I'm not sure anyone is claiming there weren't any bad calls against Iowa. There were. But the calls definitely favored them. Perkins just flat out stiffed armed Hawkins out of the way right in front of the ref and no call. It was a poorly officiated game. We still should have overcome it and won. But it definitely played a factor in the result.
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Sure. Bad calls both ways. Maybe the calls did favor the Hawkeyes. But were the calls all in the second half? The gophers had a 20 point lead. The officials didn’t blow that lead.
 

I thought the refs were shitty today and they did not call an even game. However, that shit was from the beginning of the game all the way through. They were just as shitty in the first 24 minutes as they were in the last 16. And we had a huge lead in the first 24 minutes in spite of the officiating. So even though I think the refs were completely shitty today, they were not the reason we lost. We were doing just fine in spite of them before the bottom fell out.
 

Been told here on gh that excuses are for losers.

Litany of ref bitching each and every time this team loses.
 


MUgopher32 said:
Ben has to do a better job of not letting the team get complacent with leads.

If he gets credit for 2nd half comebacks, he also has to wear the collapses. Garcia or not, took the foot off the gas on offense while Iowa went pedal to the metal.

Payne also has got to be better. You cant be a total liability at the line while also committing silly fouls over and over while also today not converting the shots you did take when not fouled. Hes also a total black hole when he gets the ball, like passing is simply something he cant even try to do.

Kid has a load of potential to be a monster as a upperclassman, but hes got to had some diversity to his game.
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Yes, Ben has to do better to not let it snowball like it did yesterday.

Up until Garcia went out, we did not take our foot off the gas. We didn't adjust well on either end of the floor when that happened.

Payne does need to be better. Like you said he has potential to be a monster and some nights he is, yesterday was not one of those days.
 

MUgopher32 said:
Ben has to do a better job of not letting the team get complacent with leads.

If he gets credit for 2nd half comebacks, he also has to wear the collapses. Garcia or not, took the foot off the gas on offense while Iowa went pedal to the metal.

Payne also has got to be better. You cant be a total liability at the line while also committing silly fouls over and over while also today not converting the shots you did take when not fouled. Hes also a total black hole when he gets the ball, like passing is simply something he cant even try to do.

Kid has a load of potential to be a monster as a upperclassman, but hes got to had some diversity to his game.
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Payne is who he is. Second year and has developed absolutely nothing else in his game. Can’t dribble or shoot beyond 2 feet from the hoop. Do we really think that’s gonna change?
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Sure. Bad calls both ways. Maybe the calls did favor the Hawkeyes. But were the calls all in the second half? The gophers had a 20 point lead. The officials didn’t blow that lead.
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No the calls were not all in the second half, but the ones in the first impacted how players played later in the game when they were in foul trouble.

The officials didn't blow the lead. Our poor defense and shooting in the last 15 minutes did that. We had great looks on many possessions, they just didn't shoot very well and each miss tightened the noose. Our defense the final 15 also resembled the first Iowa game and not what we did in the first half.
 

I blame the loss on The PowerTrip as Ben was on Friday morning with them, just like he was on with them after the first three BIG wins.
 



Losing Garcia was bad. But it was magnified by Hawkins deciding to start playing "hero ball"! The ball stopped moving, the clock ran down over and over, and the offense went pffff. Also, the Hawk committed an idiotic end of game foul for either the second or third game in a row? The other one(s) ended up not costing us, but this one on the 3 did. As for Payne, he has to avoid the cheap ones. Reaching in a guard, and the two handed shove in the back on a rebound. That said his second one in the first half was BS. But when he came back in the second half, Owen Wilson no longer looked like the Big Ten rookie of the year!
 

MUgopher32 said:
Ben has to do a better job of not letting the team get complacent with leads.

If he gets credit for 2nd half comebacks, he also has to wear the collapses. Garcia or not, took the foot off the gas on offense while Iowa went pedal to the metal.

Payne also has got to be better. You cant be a total liability at the line while also committing silly fouls over and over while also today not converting the shots you did take when not fouled. Hes also a total black hole when he gets the ball, like passing is simply something he cant even try to do.

Kid has a load of potential to be a monster as a upperclassman, but hes got to had some diversity to his game.
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Totally agree about Payne. The kids got massive potential; but, he needs to work hard over the summer with his free throws.
 

CentralGopher said:
Payne is who he is. Second year and has developed absolutely nothing else in his game. Can’t dribble or shoot beyond 2 feet from the hoop. Do we really think that’s gonna change?
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I don’t think that’s fully fair. He’s still an underclassman. This off season is huge for him tho. He’s gotta add to his skill set. Especially the passing.

If I’m Ben, I show him Oso ighodaro and Josh Oduru film all summer.

He will never have the elite athleticism and ball handling of Oso. But he can replicate the hook and 1Handed 12 foot push shot. And be someone who can clear spade on 1 side of the half court to draw a D and be alert to open shooters and cutters passing.

He will never have Odurus mid range/3 game to stretch a D. But has a very similar build where he can mimic the way he uses his size further from the paint with more creative ways to score. And again, using it to draw multiple defenders and pass to wide open players.
 

There were definitely things not called on Iowa that should have been. But that's life on the road in the B1G, especially if your coach refuses to work the refs.
 



Gopheritnow said:
Losing Garcia was bad. But it was magnified by Hawkins deciding to start playing "hero ball"! The ball stopped moving, the clock ran down over and over, and the offense went pffff. Also, the Hawk committed an idiotic end of game foul for either the second or third game in a row? The other one(s) ended up not costing us, but this one on the 3 did. As for Payne, he has to avoid the cheap ones. Reaching in a guard, and the two handed shove in the back on a rebound. That said his second one in the first half was BS. But when he came back in the second half, Owen Wilson no longer looked like the Big Ten rookie of the year!
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Owen Freeman. You were thinking about the actor.

Agree with your post. Hawkins had perhaps his worst game in some time. He also wasn't very good against Iowa in the first game so maybe Iowa is just a bad matchup for him. More concerning is that he's fouled out in four of his last six games.

After the game, I reflected back to our first Big Ten win against Nebraska. We were down fairly big in that one when Garcia went out and the game looked hopeless. Instead, the team rallied and won by 11. A big difference in that game was that Hawkins was good and Ola Joseph was great. I don't understand why Ola Joseph has turned into such a nonentity.

This was a heart-breaking loss but we have to keep in mind two things:

1) The team's performance yesterday hasn't been typical this season. More typical is the team getting down by double digits and rallying to either win or lose by a close margin. We've had only one other game like this.

2) The team's NET ranking didn't change after yesterday's loss (Iowa's didn't either) so although we lost a golden opportunity to improve our ranking we didn't drop.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Sure. Bad calls both ways. Maybe the calls did favor the Hawkeyes. But were the calls all in the second half? The gophers had a 20 point lead. The officials didn’t blow that lead.
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Agreed. There isn't a game day thread ever on this site where the complaining about the refs isn't rampant. Calls even out over time. Blaming the refs every game is a loser's mentality.
 

That was a tough one. It seemed like the second half developed into a perfect storm for Iowa. Garcia injury was obviously the biggest issue. Terrible home officiating against MN (Look at calls on Payne vs Freeman's shoving). MN content to trade baskets w/the lead. Gophers and Iowa both shooting adjustment to the mean. Guards sped up, playing hot potato as Iowa reaches/shoves not called. Crowd awakened. Energy vortex suck MN energy with every Iowa basket. Garcia still out looking really uncomfortable on bench. Those things all led to a likely NCAA bubble-crushing defeat.

I have to believe when Wilson came in, the conversation with CBJ was as follows-
"OK Jack, understand you have to be a wall on those high screens. No shoving or lateral movement". First screen shove, he's out. That's how Hawkins learned earlier in the year.
 



howeda7 said:
There were definitely things not called on Iowa that should have been. But that's life on the road in the B1G, especially if your coach refuses to work the refs.
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Iowa's coach wasn't really working the refs either. Watched the last 30 minutes and I didn't at any time think the refs made an egregiously bad call other than when they called the blocking foul on Iowa when Carrington 100% charged.

Garcia went out. We lost rhythm and started pressing on offense. It snowballed.
 

That said, MN is currently 2 games above my optimistic preseason prediction (conf. 10-10) and I have them winning 5 of their last 8 conference games. Purdue will pose a challenge, but the back to back home games RUT/OSU hopefully propels them to a win in Lincoln and all will be right in the universe. It can happen.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Iowa's coach wasn't really working the refs either. Watched the last 30 minutes and I didn't at any time think the refs made an egregiously bad call other than when they called the blocking foul on Iowa when Carrington 100% charged.

Garcia went out. We lost rhythm and started pressing on offense. It snowballed.
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Angry Fran didn't need to work the refs much yesterday, but he certainly does normally. The Iowa center got away with 3-4 pretty blatant push-offs in the first half that weren't called.
 

GFBfan said:
No the calls were not all in the second half, but the ones in the first impacted how players played later in the game when they were in foul trouble.

The officials didn't blow the lead. Our poor defense and shooting in the last 15 minutes did that. We had great looks on many possessions, they just didn't shoot very well and each miss tightened the noose. Our defense the final 15 also resembled the first Iowa game and not what we did in the first half.
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Agreed fouls impacted the game but I struggle to say that’s why they lost. Completely agree with you that missed open shots (and free throws) along with porous defense were the issues.
 

MUgopher32 said:
I don’t think that’s fully fair. He’s still an underclassman. This off season is huge for him tho. He’s gotta add to his skill set. Especially the passing.

If I’m Ben, I show him Oso ighodaro and Josh Oduru film all summer.

He will never have the elite athleticism and ball handling of Oso. But he can replicate the hook and 1Handed 12 foot push shot. And be someone who can clear spade on 1 side of the half court to draw a D and be alert to open shooters and cutters passing.

He will never have Odurus mid range/3 game to stretch a D. But has a very similar build where he can mimic the way he uses his size further from the paint with more creative ways to score. And again, using it to draw multiple defenders and pass to wide open players.
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Maybe film of Kevin McHale?
 

Free throws were 28-19 in favor of the Hawkeyes. But 11-4 in the closing minutes when the gophers committed a very obvious foul on a 3 and committed fouls to force them to shoot free throws.
 

GopherHole Staff said:
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I was in the stands for this one.

Without Garcia, the Iowa D collapsed on Christie and Hawkins and our offense had no flow. Christine is an amazing #2, but isn't #1 material yet. He couldn't create his own shot or get out of the double-teams. Hawkins was handsy and frustrated all day. He played too fast and was forcing the ball into impossible passing windows and dribbling into trouble a lot. Maybe his worst game as a Gopher. Fox is good with a flowing game, but was a liability against set plays on O and D. We missed Payne a lot after Garcia was out. We are better than Iowa, but not without Garcia.

Carver-Hawkeye Arena notes - I like the open concourse and natural light that comes in from all the windows. It's a very basic building without personality, but is efficient to get around, has good sight views from everywhere and is a comfortable place to watch a game. The seats are nice and comfortable.

The place was absolutely dead, though. Hawkeye fans were glued to the women's game and noticeably bummed after they lost to Nebraska and Clark didn't get the scoring record. They had the game on the big screen until the players were introduced and Hawkeye fans were sighing and groaning a lot as Big Red mounted its comeback. Fans didn't cheer for the men's team until they got within a score (even at the start of the game!). It was weird, they were on a run and it was like no one was paying attention and then all of a sudden said, oh wow, we're back in it.

My wife and I had great burgers at Stella's so I'd recommend it next time you are in Iowa City.
 

CoMn said:
The refs called 2x as many fouls on us and we had 2 guys foul out and 4 play the whole game with foul trouble
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I obviously agree that the refs were slanted, which helped the Hawkeyes.....but that doesn't explain the collapse.
 

rowdaboat said:
And a number of stupid away from basket fouls we made to get into trouble
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This has especially been an issue for Payne. He picks up some really dumb fouls out on the perimeter. Has to learn how to defend without reaching, especially that far from the basket.

Hawkins 5th and final foul was completely unnecessary. He has been a really good player but he still has a tendency to lose his head at times and either make a terrible decision with the ball or pick up a cheap foul.

We caught a break on the charge that was called a blocking foul because the kid was in great position. But overall Iowa benefited from the refs far more than we did over the course of the game as they were allowed to be super aggressive on D with very few fouls called.

Refs didn't cost us the game but the way they called the game definitely made it easier for Iowa to comeback the way they did.
 

I have seen refs be way worse than that in road games in the Big Ten and that is not why the team lost in any way. The team lost because they panicked. They jacked up unneeded threes at bad times, Hawkins made about a half dozen terrible decisions with the ball and the team spent like 10 minutes never trying to force Iowa to foul them inside.
 

Lost the game at the FT line. This team is not good enough to overcome that much a a make disparity on the road. Disappointing.
 

howeda7 said:
We were told the "he had so many injuries, now he finally has depth!" line but where is it? One scholarship is unused. Wilson, Betts and Keynes don't play. Ihnen is painful to watch. JOJ is struggling massively. So we're back to 7 guys and as soon as one gets hurt, we fold.
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Perfectly stated!!!

Thanks for sharing.
 

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