Game 13: Gophers host Cal Riverside (12-22-17)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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Winter Tour 2017

U C Riverside (3-8) kicked off its tour of upper Midwest hot spots with an 89-66 loss to Iowa State (5-5) in Ames. On the 19th, the Highlanders travel to Vermillion facing South Dakota before taking the Williams Arena court on Friday in Minnesota’s last non-conference match-up.

Minnesota will be Cal Riverside’s sixth power five conference foe. Previously they’ve lost to Southern Cal, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona State and Iowa State. Yesterday, Iowa State led at the end of the first quarter 19-15 before using some scoring spurts to pull away for the win. Against the Cyclones, UCR had 18 assists and 19 turnover reflecting their season averages of 15.2 assists and 16.9 turnovers per game.

Minnesota and Cal Riverside both played UNLV. UCR, shooting almost 60%, ran past UNLV in Tempe 95-88 posting the third highest point total in UCR history. The more workman like Gophers defeated UNLV in Las Vegas 79-72.

Cal Riverside was picked to finish 5th/6th in the Big West which projects them on a level with San Diego. Last season UCR, coached by John Margaritis (13th season), was 16-15 (9-7 in conference).

UCR starters against the Cyclones were:

5’8” G Sr Michelle Curry; 13.2 points per game.
5’ 10” G Sr Lauren Holt; 12.8 pts/game. 14 versus ISU. Holt is their primary 3 point shooter.
6’-0” G Sr Jannon Otto; 16 points versus ISU
6’1” F So Skyler Lewis;
6’0” G Sr Clemence Lefebvre

Wins: @ Fresno State 68-56, @(Tempe) UNLV 95-88, CSU Bakersfield 68-65.

Losses: Loyola Marymount 59-67, Southern Cal 46-64, @ Stanford 43-53, @(Reno) SMU 51-73, @ (Reno) Sacramento State 72-99, @ UCLA 48-68, @ Arizona State 48-73 and @ Iowa State 66-89.

Being the last conference game before the Gophers kick off the B1G season at Northwestern, we will interested in whether Taiye Bello gets the start and whether Taiye will become the primary post player.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Winter Tour 2017]
Minnesota and Cal Riverside both played UNLV. UCR, shooting almost 60%, ran past UNLV in Tempe 95-88 posting the third highest point total in UCR history. The more workman like Gophers defeated UNLV in Las Vegas 79-72.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by "more workman-like". Gophers worked harder on defense? :p

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Winter Tour 2017]
5’8” G Sr Michelle Curry; 13.2 points per game.
5’ 10” G Sr Lauren Holt; 12.8 pts/game. 14 versus ISU. Holt is their primary 3 point shooter.
6’-0” G Sr Jannon Otto; 16 points versus ISU
6’1” F So Skyler Lewis;
6’0” G Sr Clemence Lefebvre
Click to expand...

If their tallest player is 6'1, the Gophers should be able to kill them inside, but I suspect they'll play the usual perimeter game.
 


Well, at least UC-Riverside isn't afraid to play power conference opponents...unlike another team I'm familiar with.
 

tripledouble said:
Well, at least UC-Riverside isn't afraid to play power conference opponents...unlike another team I'm familiar with.
Click to expand...

Those payday games are no doubt an important revenue source for their program. It's a given they will lose the vast majority.
 


tripledouble said:
Well, at least UC-Riverside isn't afraid to play power conference opponents...unlike another team I'm familiar with.
Click to expand...

The Gophers went 2-1 against the ACC. Wish they went 3-0 but it was close.
UNC is only going to get better as the season progresses. That would have been a sweet rpi victory.
 

South Dakota defeated UC Riverside tonight in Vermillion, 75-69. The Coyotes led 21-11 at the half but the Highlanders fought back to take several leads in the second half. UC Riverside primarily pushed the ball inside usually after running a lot of action above the free throw line.

Michelle Curry led UCR with 19 points. Unfortunately, foul trouble limited her to 22 minutes. Curry was one of two UCR players to foul out. Ewodo was the other. Lauren Hold was their second leading scorer with 13. UCR committed 22 turnovers (11 per half) and 22 fouls.

The announcers got some enjoyment talking about the Summit League's Western Illinois knocking off Stanford in Palo Alto last night-a score that totally escaped me.
 

YIKES! What is going on here? This is reminiscent of SD game, but we're at home.
 

Like I said I don’t want Hubbard playing. She is a awful defensive player
 



Panic averted as Gophers end half on 19-0 run. After getting smacked in the mouth in the first quarter, things are back to the way they're supposed to be. The scout on the Gophers must be "smack 'em in the mouth to start the game".
 

Gophers crack 100 in what turns out to be an easy win after a very slow start in which they trailed by 15 in the 2nd quarter. Gophers led by Bell with 30 points and 9 assists. Bell one point short of her career high in points for the Gophers. She could have had a double-double with a beautiful pass to Fernstrom, but Fernstrom missed a bunny. Wagner with 23 points and 7 boards. She surpasses McCarville on U of M all-time leading scorer list. Hubbard breaks out of a shooting fun and ends with 20 points. Brunson with 7 points off the bench. I really like her effort. Kaposi 7 boards off the bench in limited time. Gophers Bell, Wagner, and Brunson able to drive to the basket at will against UCR. Even Pitts scored on a drive to the hoop. She ended up with 12 points. Gophers end non-conference play 7-0 at home. I don't like placing so much emphasis on the first couple conference games, but I am thinking that the Gophers will have to win on the road at Northwestern and at home against Nebraska if they have any hope of being an NCAA tourney team. I don't think the Gophers will be an NCAA tourney team, but I would love to be wrong with that. BIG isn't all that good this year.
 

Well, they had me worried in that first quarter, but finished strong 101-75 MIN final


Bell 30 pts (10-20, 1-2 3P, 9-12 FT), 2 reb, 9 ast, 0 to, 2 stl
Wagner 23 pts (8-18 , 6-10 3P, 1-2 FT), 7 reb, 3 ast, 1 to
 

Obviously the Gopher offensive plan was to drive and draw fouls. Bell drove and drew a foul on Curry right away. But.....defensively it was an early mess. Minnesota's D kept getting sucked up to the free throw line allowing a quick pass or two finding open UCR players under the hoop or beyond the three point line. UCR took advantage by hitting almost 60% of their shots for too much of the first half. The Gophers also seemed to struggle a bit with UCR's height or at least with matching up with the height and the Gopher offensive languished Stollings yanked Taiye before two minutes passed; but the post rotation didn't really make much difference until Minnesota's defense got more aggressive.

Yes, Kiki set up Fernstrom for layup on the left side of the hoop. Then Bryanna for some reason shot it weakly with her right hand. Anyway, a big thanks to Bell's offensive for keeping us in the game early.


Minutes Played (Starters Bolded)

34 Bell
32 Wagner
32 Hubbard
31 Pitts
18 Brunson
17 Taiye Bello
14 Edwards
10 Kaposi
4 Fernstrom
3 Garrido Perez
3 Lamke
2 Kehinde Bello


We won't see many 21-0 runs. The slow start was worth it just to see the bench get worked up over the turnaround and the stream of confident threes that pumped them up (okay, one of Carlie's circled the rim five or six times before dropping; but it only added to the fun).

In the second quarter:

3:53 Bell for 2
2:51 Bell for 2 plus 1 Free Throw
2:24 Wagner for 3
1:57 Hubbard 2 Free Throws
1:27 Wagner for 3
:56 Hubbard for 3
:27 Hubbard for 3

Continued in the third quarter:
9:30 T. Bello 2 Free Throws
 



I'm willing to chalk most of today's poor play up to the finals break and basically nine days off. UC Riverside has been playing while we've been taking tests. We were totally outplayed for the first quarter and one half of the second quarter. We came out flat footed and UC Riverside was shooting almost 70% until we finally woke up. First two Big Ten games will hopefully tell us a lot about how we will fare in conference play this season. We will also see how the rotation will settle down in Big Ten play.
 

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Swirly 3 made the highlights
 

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