Game 12: Gophers v Cal Poly (12-13-17)

[Ignatius L Hoops]

High Noon

Cal Poly (4-3), picked to finish 4th or 6th in preseason Big West Conference polling, travels to Williams arena. Like many teams they feature a four guard offense. Unlike many teams, two of those starting guards are twins, Lynn and Dynn Leaupepe. Both are 5’9” seniors. Lynn averages 16.1 points per game and Dynn averages 12.4. Lynn was a second team all Big West selection last season. In Cal Poly’s most recent outing versus Northern Arizona Lynn scored 18 and dished out 6 assists.

Cal Poly’s main post player is 6’2” Devin Stanback who averages 11.7 points per game. Recently, freshman guard Ayzhiana Basallo has stepped up. Basallo scored 18 at Northern Arizona.

Cal Poly is coached by Faith Minnaugh in her 21st season. Last season, Cal Poly finished 11-18 (7-9 in conference).

Before facing the Gophers, the Mustangs have a game tonight at Eastern Washington. So, these stats will change: Cal Poly is 84-136 (.618) from the line and 46-134 (.343) from three.

Yes they’ve played San Francisco twice this season:

Wins : Grand Canyon 75-69, San Francisco 88-83, Cal State Monterey Bay 77-44 and @ Northern Arizona 89-73.

Losses: @ San Francisco 71-83, St. Mary’s 64-82 and Robert Morris 50-66.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Cal Poly lost a back and forth contest tonight at Eastern Washington 75-72. Cal Poly led at the half 44-41 but struggled offensively in the second half. The Mustangs went the last 2:30 or so without a basket. Dynn Leaupepe was Cal Poly's leading scorer with 21 points.

Unfortunately Dynn's twin sister, Lynn, Cal Poly's leading scorer, left the game four minutes into the first quarter with an injury to her left leg. While leading a break, Lynn charged into a EWU defender. She spent the remainder of the night on the bench with her left leg elevated and crutches nearby. I assume she will not be available Wednesday afternoon.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2017-2018/cp.html

It was a blow out win 112-68. Using a man full court press, Minnesota raced to a 12-0 start. Cal Poly narrowed that to 13-10 before the Gophers ran off for good. Minnesota pretty much stayed in man defense the entire game with a few switches to the 2-3. Taiye Bello got her first start of the season and finished with a double double, 14 points and 10 rebounds. It was good to see a post battling on both ends of the court. Cal Poly was forced into 24 turnovers.

I assume a message was sent to Edwards (2 minutes played) and Fernstrom (7 minutes). In Stollings' San Diego post game and on her radio show she seemed to be more annoyed about the loss to San Diego than even was I.

Bell led the Gophers with 26 points. In addition, Kiki contributed 6 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 turnovers. Both Wagner and Pitts had 23 points. Pitts was 7-13 from three. Bell had almost back to back cool plays with about 4 minutes remaining in the first half. The first was a quick drive beating two defenders down the left side of the lane finished with a wrap around pass to Taiye for a lay-in. The second was a jumping out of bounds steal under the Cal Poly basket with a no look pass to Kaposi. Kaposi got it back to Kiki who went the length of the court, drove the lane for a kick back to a Wagner three pointer.

Besides being field trip day, there were some strange happenings. On the opening tip, referee Tina Napier got clocked in the right ear by a Devin Stanback elbow. The Gophers got the tip; but Napier was bent over, holding her ear trying to walk off the pain. She had stop play until things returned to normal. Late in the first half, Stanback went to the floor as the play went up the court. She was assisted off the court, taken behind the bench where she laid down on the floor. I think they were primarily giving her liquids. She did not return to the game after half. The final oddity was an errant pass from Pitts driving under the hoop, to Wagner (I think) in the corner that missed its mark by several feet and hit a fan in the face.


Minutes Played (Starters Bolded)

30 Bell
29 Pitts
28 Hubbard
26 Wagner
24 Brunson
21 Taiye Bello
12 Kaposi
9 Garrido Perez
8 Kehinde Bello
7 Fernstrom
4 Lamke
2 Edwards

 

[tripledouble]

Pitts with career high in points with 23, but every one of her field goals was on a 3. She's going to have to start putting the ball on the floor sometimes or she won't get those outside shots in BIG play. Bello was very active today. I like her at the post position, mostly because she is so much more athletic than the other post options. But not sure how she would fare against the likes of Gustafson or Thome. Kaposi also was very active in her minutes. If she continues that, I'd like to see her get a few more minutes. She is one of the few frontcourt players we have who anticipates rebounds (along with T. Bello). Good to see Garrido Perez get minutes and a couple of baskets. Wagner and Bell played well together today, often setting up each other for baskets. Iggy might be right about Stollings sending a message to Edwards. Either that or she is moving toward more minutes for Bello and Lamke. Another cupcake bites the dust as the Gophers continue their preposterous non-conference schedule.

 

[Shades]

What is this? Be still my heart. Actually trapping and stuff?

I know this Cal Poly team (how are they suppose to compare to SD?) wasn't great, but it's nice to see that the team didn't do just enough to win. They poured it on.

If the Gophers can try to defend like that all the time and have the nice ball movement like they did, who knows how well they could do in conference.

Hard to find anything to complain about, except Iggy not adding Kaposi to the minutes chart.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Can't believe I skipped Kaposi's minutes (usually I at least add them up). Palma with 6 rebounds and 3 fouls made her presence known.

Yes we saw actual trapping out of the press and even trapping out of the half court man defense. Taiye's mobility helped make some of that possible. Of course Cal Poly was playing without Lynn Leaupepe and lost their starting post player, Stanback; but unlike the San Diego game, Minnesota's aggressive D took full advantage of having the better players. In San Diego, everything was so damn passive.

When your're playing San Diego and Cal Poly etc you should be working on things. In the UC Riverside game it will be interesting how Stollings utilizes Edwards and Ferstrom. Those two seem to have lost what little offensive rhythm they've had. When they catch a pass in the low post, they bring it down, get doubled and nothing good happens. Their footwork has regressed.