GAME #10: Gophers (7-2) v. N'awlins (who cares) [2:00PM, ESPN3]

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This team gets tired every game in the second half.
 

This is about as pitiful a stretch as I have seen in a long time. Sorry to say folks but UNO is barely a DI team.
 

dang, Dre is having a rough second half. I agree Gold Vision, our intensity has really gone down
 




Got the win against a bad team which is the most important thing but I'm sure the coaching staff will be able to take a lot from this game to work on. I thought Mo and Austin both played pretty well but Mo still needs to improve on finishing around the rim but I do think it will come around. The 2nd half was pretty ugly and I don't think there was a whole lot of focus on the 2nd half from the team. Some dumb mistakes in the 2nd half that can't happen against better teams and I'm sure if the team doesn't already know that they will be made aware of it by the staff. Should get a better test than today against South Dakota State on Tuesday and can't afford any stumbling with the rest of the non-conference.
 





EE and Malik both with sprained ankles. DNP

Apparently during practice. Listening to CP on post-game.
 

station19 said:
EE and Malik both with sprained ankles. DNP

Apparently during practice. Listening to CP on post-game.
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Gotcha. I missed the first part of the game and watched the rest on mute. The box score on ESPN.com showed EE played but don't know how accurate that is.
 

Colorado just made a 30 foot buzzer beater vs Kansas if you missed it
 



GophersInIowa said:
Gotcha. I missed the first part of the game and watched the rest on mute. The box score on ESPN.com showed EE played but don't know how accurate that is.
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EE did play a couple minutes in the 1st half but I think that was it. Saw Pitino said he was hopeful EE would be available Tuesday so maybe his isn't as severe and he tried to test it today but didn't feel comfortable. He sounded less hopeful about Smith being available and said he could barely walk yesterday, Marcus did tweet Smith said he would be fine for next game however.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Gotcha. I missed the first part of the game and watched the rest on mute. The box score on ESPN.com showed EE played but don't know how accurate that is.
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Maybe EE tried to give it a go. I know he didn't start.
 


MadtownGopher said:
How'd we look, couldn't watch.
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Well that's what this team looks like without EE at Center and without Smith there to drop bombs from outside...not exactly ideal. Sounds like they should heal before long.
 

Middle of second half found game on ESPN3 (computer). After the Austin H. big dunk we rally looked bad. We would have trouble winning in the B1G playing as poorly as we did in the 2nd half. Really missed Elliot. We obviously need him healthy.
 

Hard to get up for the 350th ranked team. I wouldn't be too concerned.
 

station19 said:
Hard to get up for the 350th ranked team. I wouldn't be too concerned.
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I totally agree for a variety of reasons: 1. Sometimes a team plays down to their opponent's level; 2. Sometimes a team plays up to their opponents level; 3. No team plays up to their top potential every game, hence upsets occur. 4. The games are played by human beings with human components, not video games.
 


In order to support GW's assertion about free throws not being important, it's a good thing that FT's count or we would have won by only 3.
 

Dr.Don said:
In order to support GW's assertion about free throws not being important, it's a good thing that FT's count or we would have won by only 3.
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I don't think you get his point.
 

I think that having a too kooshie of a schedule can lead to bad club habits. The boys seem like they play to the level of their opponents.

In some regards I just wonder if the guys come to the stadium wondering what they are doing playing the second worst team in the nation.

When can we have a non-conference schedule that will give us some buzzer beater like tests.

There is absolutely no excuse for this performance. But it was hard for me to keep my interest today. I caught myself more interested in lip reading Teague as he entertained a recruit's family.

I am still curious who that was today!
 


Watched the game this morning. The Gophers did a fair amount of aggressive trapping out of the zone, but the problem is the open shot out of the trap is the corner 3. Giving up open corner 3's is the worst thing you can do defensively besides just giving a team a dunk. I'll be interested to see if Coach Pitino can tweak that trap so that guys are in position to take away that shot.

The team played pretty well in building a 26 point lead, but was pretty bad for the last ~12 minutes of game action. It should be noted that the Gophers missed a number of good looks during that span and that most of the problems were on the defensive end with no EE and Walker sitting with fouls for much of that stretch. I am not as worried about how bad the Gophers looked at times today as some other posters. Once they were up 26, it was almost impossible to lose and guys lost focus (especially defensively) which tends to happen when a team has a big lead against inferior opposition.

I would have loved to see Charles Buggs play and build off his nice (brief) stretch against Florida State. I would assume he's either dealing with an injury or just isn't earning the trust of the coaches during practice.

Wally Ellenson is always strangely hopping on the court and is seemingly frequently looking for a chance at an alley oop like it's a pick up game. Getting some time on the court can only help him, but it was a rough game for Wally.

I am a little concerned about Mo Walker's ability to finish inside once the opposition gets bigger/more athletic. He still doesn't have any lift, but now he no longer has the size to create space between himself and the defender. On the positive side, his conditioning is miles ahead of where it was last year. There were several times in the game where the teams traded breaks and Mo kept up with the pace of the game. In the past he wouldn't make it past half court in similar situations of continuous running.

Joey/Oto continue to have the same issue Mo does in that they are fed the ball in a position where a high major 4 should dunk the basketball. Instead, they either pump fake or try to take the ball to the other side of the rim for a reverse layup. We often end up with no points out of a nice pass/play that should create a bucket. Oto and Joey combined for 3 rebounds (all Joey) in 52 minutes of game time...not good. On the positive side, King's 3 point stroke looked great.

Loved seeing Andre Hollins get a little more physical inside and getting a put back. The Gophers will need everyone to chip in plays like that to continue to be successful.

Mathieu is really fun to watch and had two very nice finishes inside against length. On the negative end, his technical for swiping the ball out of the inbounders hand was ridiculous.

Austin Hollins dunk was the highlight of the game and a well deserved Sportscenter Top 10 play. If Austin could find a way to put on 20-30lbs, I think he could play a role in the league.
 

GophersOnTheRise said:
His point is there are other aspects of the game that are more important than FTs, therefore they are meaningless. Sound logic.
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His point is FT percentage is relatively meaningless. He's not arguing getting to the line isn't important.
 


GophersOnTheRise said:
Exactly. Really can't take too much from these types of games.
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Unless we lose them. So long as we win, don't care how or by how much. Its like a player scoring an ugly goal in hockey. At the end of the year, all anyone will see is his total number.
 

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