Game 13: Gophers Host Eastern Illinois (12-22-22)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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Our cat tour continues. We’ve met Lady Lions, Wildcats, Cougars and Panthers (twice). This week, these Panthers are led by long time Gopher opponent Matt Bollant who is entering his 6th season as Eastern Illinois head coach.

The Charleston, Illinois school has faced Minnesota twice. The second meeting was two years ago with the Gophers prevailing 72-68 in the season opener at Williams. It was a covid era game with Minnesota playing seven players, Sissoko (24 points), Powell (21), Hedman, Sconiers, Hubbard, Cumming and Ross-all now departed. Eastern Illinois was led by Lariah Washington with 22 points in 35 minutes.

Washington, the 5’9” senior guard, Is currently the leading scorer for Panthers with 20.2 ppg. Washington, from St. Cloud Apollo, is one of four Minnesotans on the team. The others are: Hannah Purcell from Annandale, Julia Bengston from Becker and Miah Monahan from Glencoe-Silver Lake.

Matt Bollant has yet to reach the heights at Eastern Illinois that he scaled at UWGB; but he seems to be making some progress. Last year the Panthers finished fifth in the Ohio Valley conference and this year were preseason picks for fourth. More important, they are 8-2 to start the season including wins over some common opponents to the Gophers: Western Illinois 64-62, Chicago State 87-64 and Milwaukee 51-45.

And, as Christmas approaches here’s a song from one of Eastern Illinois’ former football players, one of the voices of Christmas and unfortunately one of the willing voices who testified before the House Committee on Unamerican Activities, Burl Ives. This song charts year after year.


And, of course, I can’t resist the classic:



Trying to catch the devils herd
Across the endless skies
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MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota men's and women's basketball Dec. 22 games against Chicago State and Eastern Illinois have time changes due to winter storm warnings and inclement weather within the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

The 6:30 p.m., men's basketball game against Chicago State has been rescheduled for a noon tip off. The previously televised game will now be streamed on B1G+ and broadcast on KTLK 1130 AM. The women's game originally set for 3:30 p.m., against Eastern Illinois will be moved up to 3 p.m. This will remain on B1G + and broadcast on KFAN+.

All tickets for the originally scheduled game times will be valid for the new start times. Doors will open at 11 a.m. Fans who attend the men's game are welcome to stay in Williams Arena to enjoy the women's game. Fans who have women's basketball tickets are welcome to arrive early to enjoy the men's game. Season ticket seating still applies for both games. Fans in attendance for non-season ticket seats, will relocate to general admission seating.

gophersports.com

Time Changes for Gopher Men's and Women's Basketball Games - University of Minnesota Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota men's and women's basketball Dec. 22 games against Chicago State and Eastern Illinois have time changes due to wint...
gophersports.com gophersports.com
 

WBB Receives 33 Votes in Latest Mid Major Poll​

Panthers Are The Second Team Out Of The Poll​

12/20/2022

Eastern Illinois women's basketball received 33 votes in the latest CollegeInsider.com mid major top 25. The Panthers are the second team out of the rankings and are the only Ohio Valley Conference team to receive any votes in this week's poll.

EIU currently stands at 8-2 overall on the season, with their eight wins being the most in the OVC.

eiupanthers.com

WBB Receives 33 Votes in Latest Mid Major Poll - Eastern Illinois University Athletics

Panthers second team out
eiupanthers.com eiupanthers.com
 


Hopefully there are no OTs, extended injury TOs, and the game is played quickly so we can get on the road afterwards.
 

Battle and Braun cold shooting to start but good rebounding.

Minnesota way outrebounding Eastern Illinois.

Mi'Cole Cayton with plays at the start of the game. Gradwell with 2/2 too.

Rose with 8 points early and 4 turnovers.
 
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Well I guess they might as well let Rose shoot, no one the team can make a layup.
 

Rebounds have turned the other way while Minnesota's shooting is cold near the end of the 3rd.

Shooting needs to heat up soon.

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At the end of three, Mara, Katie and Rose are combined 8 of 31. The needle is pointing toward embarrassing range
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
At the end of three, Mara, Katie and Rose are combined 8 of 31. The needle is pointing toward embarrassing range
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Yes. RealTime RPI, which thinks the Gophers have only a handful of other wins in them this season, picked this as a 20-point win.
 



The women are keeping it close, just like the men. Did both teams eat a Thanksgiving meal before playing? 🤔
 



These games before the holidays are tricky. Been alot of upsets in mbb and wbb last couple days so just getting the win is important. Its nice to see them be able to flip a switch and run away against teams like this.
 


Woeful shooting until....Solid 4th quarter, especially from Battle and Heyer. Overall, I thought the Gophers played good D. Problems were at the offensive end. Obviously still a work in progress (will be all year), but like the fact that they didn't let the first 3 quarters dictate the 4th quarter. Gritty comeback. "Mama told me there'd be days like this."
 


tripledouble said:
Woeful shooting until....Solid 4th quarter, especially from Battle and Heyer. Overall, I thought the Gophers played good D. Problems were at the offensive end. Obviously still a work in progress (will be all year), but like the fact that they didn't let the first 3 quarters dictate the 4th quarter. Gritty comeback. "Mama told me there'd be days like this."
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just seemed like there was a lid on our basket for most of the game.. like so many shots that usually drop just hit every part of the rim and didn't drop..

10 of 11 in the 4th quarter..
 

Nice to get the win. They played with much energy and effort, which will pay off down the road. I thought they played good defense most of the game--big improvement over the early season. Shooting was cold. Eastern couldn't match the Gophers speed, tempo, and strength under the basket. I would like to see Braun take it to the basket more. She has a very quick first step and great hands. Her free throws are almost automatic. I thought the Gophers did too much substituting and thus did not get a good rhythm--they had to continually figure out where there strengths are. On the other hand, maybe they were fresher in the 4th. I thought Eastern was smart to come out early at halftime, practice shooting, moving, and getting use to The Barn. They got off to a great start. Maybe, we should have warmed up more. Go Gophers.
 

walleye said:
Nice to get the win. They played with much energy and effort, which will pay off down the road. I thought they played good defense most of the game--big improvement over the early season. Shooting was cold. Eastern couldn't match the Gophers speed, tempo, and strength under the basket. I would like to see Braun take it to the basket more. She has a very quick first step and great hands. Her free throws are almost automatic. I thought the Gophers did too much substituting and thus did not get a good rhythm--they had to continually figure out where there strengths are. On the other hand, maybe they were fresher in the 4th. I thought Eastern was smart to come out early at halftime, practice shooting, moving, and getting use to The Barn. They got off to a great start. Maybe, we should have warmed up more. Go Gophers.
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I would agree about Mara.. but so far this season she hasn't gotten the whistle when she has taken it to the basket and has been bumped or hit.. but TOTALLY agree.. wish we could get Rose to pass to slshers/cuters.. she misses so many of them.. Rose is a BLACK HOLE.. missed a couple easy pass outs today and tried to go through 2-3 players again..
 

I think Rose will figure it out. We've gone from posts who didn't want to touch the ball the past few years to someone who is probably shooting too much. I think that will be corrected. She's developed a nice little jump shot within 15 feet. And she's able to put the ball on the floor to get to the hoop. I agree that she'll have to learn to pass it out when she is double-teamed. I'd also hope that she'll continue to work on her right hand as teams are going to figure out that she heavily favors her left. In the meantime, I've liked the backup minutes they've received from Oberg the past few games.
 

tripledouble said:
I think Rose will figure it out. We've gone from posts who didn't want to touch the ball the past few years to someone who is probably shooting too much. I think that will be corrected. She's developed a nice little jump shot within 15 feet. And she's able to put the ball on the floor to get to the hoop. I agree that she'll have to learn to pass it out when she is double-teamed. I'd also hope that she'll continue to work on her right hand as teams are going to figure out that she heavily favors her left. In the meantime, I've liked the backup minutes they've received from Oberg the past few games.
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the stat that just makes me wonder if she will.. is her TO/A

35 TO's to 5 assists..
 


Somebody needs to tell this team that it's not the NBA where you hang around playing for three quarters and then turn it on in the 4th. On the other hand, it's been a long time since we had a team that could turn it on in the 4th and also win the game.

The walk from the Barn to the car was brutal, easier to endure after a win.
 

Gophers112233 said:
sure wish our 4th quarter.. would have shown up in the 2nd and 3rd.. had it we win this game by 30...
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I totally agree, the EIU fans near us were quiet early on when we got out to a close to 10 point lead, but there after were sure full of themselves until the gophers took the lead in the 4th. Quiet as a mouse then:). It was a funny game, even though the gophers struggled to keep the lead and even fell behind by as many as 8, they clearly seemed like the better team all afternoon. It was very obvious that if they started to shoot their average to finish out the game that they would win. This was more apparent in this game than any other reasonably close game this year.
 

Gophers112233 said:
just seemed like there was a lid on our basket for most of the game.. like so many shots that usually drop just hit every part of the rim and didn't drop..

10 of 11 in the 4th quarter..
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There were also too many hero ball basket attempts by Rose, Katie, Mara, Battle, Cayton and Heyer. Some did go in but others didn't or resulted in turnovers. As noted earlier, Rose needs to figure out how to pass it out to a shooter once in awhile. At least 2 times she was bound and determined to try to back down and score a basket with 2 big defenders and she ended up turning it over. She had another 2 turnovers from traveling. I really thought she would have cleaned up that traveling by now. She still must average at least one of those each game.
 

Here is the condensed game.


 

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