GAME #17: Gophers (13-3, 2-1) @ #4/5 MSU (14-1, 3-0) [BTN, 1/11, 1:15PM]

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Hey guys, fan from another program here and just wanted to stop by and say great game today. I really like your hire with coach Pitino and think he is a great up and coming coach and taking the #5 team in the nation to overtime is awesome. I'm rooting for you guys, you have a crazy tough schedule this month.
 

CurveballJesus said:
very proud of the effort, absolutely no quit in these kids. Tough to win when the other team is given 38 free throws in the second half plus overtime
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Good effort, the team appeared to tire out. I do believe that's a big problem with the Pitino philosophy - you can't press the whole game without tiring, and I think near the end of some of the Gopher games you're seeing a tired Gopher team struggle against teams who have more energy. Still, I like Pitino's style overall and have a feeling he can do great things at the U.

Austin Hollins probably shouldn't touch the ball in crunch time...Oseniks, King (and others) need to move their feet faster, the penetration into the lane took Eliason away from his man, which led to a lot of interior points and to a lot of offensive rebounds by MSU. The game was lost on the defensive boards and by the inability to hit shots in the second half (and OT). Good effort nonetheless and should provide some confidence heading into the next 3 games, but I'd still be surprised by a W in any of them.

Three pretty bad calls in a 2-minute stretch ruined what was otherwise a decently refereed game. Dre got fouled by Valentine on the "block", down 3 w/ a minute left. Mathieu definitely got bodied up by Appling on the final layup, would have been an And-1 for shot at the winning FT if he wore the jersey of a team like Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio State, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, or even MSU themselves. Finally, I didn't see Mathieu touch Appling on Appling's shank of a jumper to open OT. That was badly timed, since it gave MSU a lead they didn't deserve, and seemed to take all the air out of the Gophers.
 

I was able to catch the Mathieu game tying fg and the overtime. Not a good impression only seeing that. Someone want to give me a really quick summary?
 

tikited said:
I was able to catch the Mathieu game tying fg and the overtime. Not a good impression only seeing that. Someone want to give me a really quick summary?
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Best team won. Great game.
 

Disappointing to not get the win but a great effort from the team and definitely things to be excited about going forward. The biggest reason for not coming away with a win was the long drought with too many empty possessions. Michigan State got to the free throw line a lot in the 2nd half and seemed to get the majority of the calls in the 2nd half but that is often the way it is when your on the road in the Big Ten up against a top team and legendary coach. Izzo definitely had his team pick up the physicality in the 2nd half and that really gave us problems. Despite the horrible stretch he team was able to fight back and force OT although on that play it looked to me like EE got in the way and the original pass was intended for Smith for an open 3 and trying to go for the win. Team gets a few a days to regroup before Ohio State will be coming to town and hopefully The Barn is electric!
 


Chingy said:
Hey guy, fan from another program here and just wanted to stop by and say great game today. I really like your hire with coach Pitino and think he is a great up and coming coach and taking the #5 team in the nation to overtime is awesome. I'm rooting for you guys, you have a crazy tough schedule this month.
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Can't wait to see Pitino coach a team made up of all his recruits
 


Fun game, with stretches that drove me crazy. I think we can compete these next two games at the barn, but it'll take something special to win either of them. Nothing to hang their heads on!
 

station19 said:
I hate to say it but I've always thought Austin was over-rated by GHers. No way he plays in the NBA.
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Same. Hollins will never sniff the NBA. He has no offense. He shoots poorly and is a bad dribbler. He also disappears quite often.

He can play defense well, but he isn't an amazing defender.
 



tikited said:
I was able to catch the Mathieu game tying fg and the overtime. Not a good impression only seeing that. Someone want to give me a really quick summary?
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Gophers played geat the first 25 minutes. Then went 13+ minutes without a fg. msu did a better job of guarding the perimeter and we couldn't get anything inside. msu offense breaking down our D and attacking the rim-which led to a ton of ft's and buckets.
 

Yeah, it will be fun to watch. To the person who said you can't press all game, he can he just needs more players really. He's implementing his system which will help for next year, let him get some more of his players and he will be fine. His dad did it at both Kentucky and Louisville and it's worked for him. Back when his dad was at Kentucky they would sub in 5 players when the first 5 were tired and by halftime it didn't matter if they were down or not, the other team was so tired by that point that they would pull away in the second half. He'll be ok, just takes time and this is his first year there.
 





Thanks. No idea why Austin has dropped off so much? He never could dribble well, but improved enough to still get to the rim once in a while. He has looked like he forgot how to lately. We won't go very far without Austin reversing that.
 

Au Hollins is just in a slump like he did last year. I'm not worried at all about him. One or two open shots that he knocks down is all he needs to get back going again. And when he is playing his better basketball, I think he is an NBA type player. Just needs to work on consistency.
 

Wow! Great effort from the Gophers. If you could have made more than 1 or 2 (?) FGs in the last 18 minutes, you probably would have walked away with the upset. See you at the BTT.
 

If we had competant play from the 4, we could be a top 25 team. Oto and Joey are both bad defenders and both jacked up bad shots in the 2nd half. It was a good effort anyways. Our offense was just way to stagnant in the second half. Not alot of movement and some lazy passing. We need to steal one of these next three otherwise it will be an uphill battle to make the tourny.
 

mcal24 said:
Au Hollins is just in a slump like he did last year. I'm not worried at all about him. One or two open shots that he knocks down is all he needs to get back going again. And when he is playing his better basketball, I think he is an NBA type player. Just needs to work on consistency.
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Look at his shooting percentages by year and his career.. You may be surprised. It will change your opinion of him. He cannot shoot at all.
 

I think we have a realistic shot at upsetting either Ohio St or Wisconsin at home.
 

Great battle guys played there ass off... Just to many turnovers down the stretch and not a deep enough bench really hurts this team. But they are sure fun to watch need a few more ball handlers.
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
Look at his shooting percentages by year and his career.. You may be surprised. It will change your opinion of him. He cannot shoot at all.
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Just needs to be more consistent. He'll go 20 for 40, then go 2 for 30.
 

Mathieu had it set up for Malik but EE picked it off
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pitino said he'd have preferred a three-pointer on the last play in regulation where Mathieu drove for the layup to send it into overtime</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/422124588554661889">January 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 

DeathClutch said:
If we had competant play from the 4, we could be a top 25 team. Oto and Joey are both bad defenders and both jacked up bad shots in the 2nd half. It was a good effort anyways. Our offense was just way to stagnant in the second half. Not alot of movement and some lazy passing. We need to steal one of these next three otherwise it will be an uphill battle to make the tourny.
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King jacked up one bad 3; Oto didn't jack up any contested shots in the second half. MSU brought better D in the second half - a lot of energy, and the Gophers didn't respond well. When they had open shots (think the 3 straight open 3s missed by sharpshooter M. Smith), they didn't hit them. If they did, we may well have been all excited and talking about the big victory. Give MSU credit for hustling to the ball in the second half and shooting FTs extremely well, the entire second half (except for Harris at end of regulation). Probably got to the line more than they should have, but the Gophers allowed most of them by giving MSU transition looks.
 

mcal24 said:
Just needs to be more consistent. He'll go 20 for 40, then go 2 for 30.
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If he arguably hasn't gotten better on offense his entire career, let alone more consistent, then what leads you to believe what you say is possible?

I had high hopes for Austin early in his tenor, but he is what he is.

We expect too much from him, and his deficiencies are exacerbated by our dearth of inside scoring. But that is what you expect from a bubble team.
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
If he arguably hasn't gotten better on offense his entire career, let alone more consistent, then what leads you to believe what you say is possible?

I had high hopes for Austin early in his tenor, but he is what he is.

We expect too much from him, and his deficiencies are exacerbated by our dearth of inside scoring. But that is what you expect from a bubble team.
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I just think he is an NBA player if he does improve on that. He shows plenty of flashes. It's not up to me for that to happen though...
 

GameDay said:
Mo isn't helping out at all with rebounding or defense. Gotta bring back EE soon.
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Almost every time Mo replaces EE the score takes a dive. EE is too big to play 35 minutes a game, yet too important to have on the floor to take off of it. Pitino might be better served going 5 guards when EE comes out of the game.
 

I was wondering about that. Just like end of the game in football. Go for one and the tie or go for the two pt conversion and the win. Go for the win on the road most often.
 

station19 said:
I hate to say it but I've always thought Austin was over-rated by GHers. No way he plays in the NBA.
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I thought at one time he might, but he didn't develop enough. Will play pro somewhere, though.
 

Austin's a very good player that everyone expects be great all the time. He does some great things on D and he's streaky on offense, he has an NBA body, so he'll get invited to some camps, but my guess is he will play in Europe somewhere, but plenty of great college players end up overseas no shame in that
 

Goldy Gopher said:
Mathieu had it set up for Malik but EE picked it off
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Pitino said he'd have preferred a three-pointer on the last play in regulation where Mathieu drove for the layup to send it into overtime</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/422124588554661889">January 11, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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That would have been interesting. I have to admit, the thought occurred to me, too - like going for 2 in football down by one. Win or lose; screw OT.
 

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