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

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Anyways when it came down to it Sparty flexed their muscles in the second half, they were like a hung over college kid on Sunday and we played near perfect ball, than the more talented team woke up, but I'm proud of the gophers effort, tough to go into the Breslin center the way Izzo works the refs there. Sparty wasshowed just how far we have to go in the second half, but I think we're on the right track
 

Like Rodney, Austin doesn't have good enough hands or ball handling for the NBA. He'll probably end up overseas if he plans to play pro ball. One could do much worse.
 

Today was a missed opportunity, and a big miss at that. It seems like the Gophers have been on the wrong end of a lot of close games with the Spartans over the last 5-6 years. I can't express how frustrated I was to see Austin Hollins turn it over with under a minute left and the Gophers having a chance to take the lead. This was a Senior we were counting on to be a productive, steady force and he had two bad turnovers in the waning minutes of the game and did nothing to help the team get out of its offensive funk in the second half. Hollins is a good player and he will bounce back, but there will only be so many opportunities for wins that change the outlook of the season and he's come up small twice now in games that were their for the taking.

Big picture, we have a really young coach who went in to his first game in East Lansing and competed with a squad that was clearly over matched physically. With as bad as the offense was in the second half, the team still stayed in it mentally and didn't allow Sparty to pull away. I thought Eliason played well again and it was nice to see Andre step up and make those six free throws on the road when our offense was anemic. I was encouraged to see McNeil get a little playing time too.

I still go back to the "what if" game with this team like What if we had Buckles to play the four? What if Andre/Austin could develop the mentality that Malik and DeAndre play with? What if DeAndre and Malik could be support players instead of our lead guys? What if these backups (Irvin/Kominsky) just shot well behind the arc instead of insanely well against the Gophers?
 

It seems like this team is very prone to some ridiculously long field goal droughts. Almost every game I feel like we go through at least one really long stretch with 1 or 0 field goals. Is there something about our style that makes us susceptible to those, or are we just turning it off for extended periods of time?
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
It seems like this team is very prone to some ridiculously long field goal droughts. Almost every game I feel like we go through at least one really long stretch with 1 or 0 field goals. Is there something about our style that makes us susceptible to those, or are we just turning it off for extended periods of time?
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It's a jump shooting team with no inside threats offensively. You are going to have some droughts against good defensive teams with that kind of roster. Regardless, I am ecstatic with what Pitino is doing and the mentality he has instilled. Some great years are ahead.
 


bleedsmaroonandgold said:
It seems like this team is very prone to some ridiculously long field goal droughts. Almost every game I feel like we go through at least one really long stretch with 1 or 0 field goals. Is there something about our style that makes us susceptible to those, or are we just turning it off for extended periods of time?
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No low post threat, so a good zone and perimeter defense can stifle us more than balanced teams.
 

That was a great game. I can't say enough how much these guys are exceeding my expectations. It is so fun to watch a "never quit" team. I absolutely love Pitino…if Buckles had been able to transfer, I can't help but thinking the sky would have been the limit. This is so much, much more fun to watch than last years games. We will be incredible next year with Martin coming in…I can't wait.
 

EG#9 said:
I can't express how frustrated I was to see Austin Hollins turn it over with under a minute left and the Gophers having a chance to take the lead.
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^ This. It's really inexplicable. Senior captain just careless, not strong with the ball with the game on the line. Unbelievable.
 

CoMn said:
That was a great game. I can't say enough how much these guys are exceeding my expectations. It is so fun to watch a "never quit" team. I absolutely love Pitino…if Buckles had been able to transfer, I can't help but thinking the sky would have been the limit. This is so much, much more fun to watch than last years games. We will be incredible next year with Martin coming in…I can't wait.
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We beat Memphis, Florida State, #1 Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, and UCLA last year. Let's not get carried away.
 



Gold Vision said:
We beat Memphis, Florida State, #1 Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, and UCLA last year. Let's not get carried away.
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Exactly. Last year's team was significantly better, even with Tubby. We lack any depth and as the game went on our guys just got too tired.
 

bga1 said:
It's a jump shooting team with no inside threats offensively. You are going to have some droughts against good defensive teams with that kind of roster. Regardless, I am ecstatic with what Pitino is doing and the mentality he has instilled. Some great years are ahead.
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Completely agree w/you bga. This game settled my impression of Pitino. We only have 3 experienced BT legitimate players and he took this team into overtime on the ROAD against the #5 team. He recognised the ability to contribute of Smith and Mathieu (where would this team be w/o them?), and he has shown the capacity (and the passion) to address problems and make improvements on a moment to moment, game to game basis. I agree that we have great years ahead because I see a young coach who can make a true impression on his players.

If Pitino hadn't always wanted to be a BB coach, he'd be very successful doing something else. And this speaks well on the kind of lifetime influence he could have on his players - basketball or otherwise.

I would have loved a victory today, but I am also ecstatic with what I see happening w/this program. I think even Gopher4Life would be happy...
 

Disappointed in Austin. Cost us a chance to win with the two late turnovers.

This team has a totally different vibe from Tubby's; will take it any day of the week
 




Gold Vision said:
We beat Memphis, Florida State, #1 Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, and UCLA last year. Let's not get carried away.
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We also failed to win more than one road game in Big Ten play. I'd take this team over last year's team from a watchability standpoint every time. They never give up. Way too many times last year the team flat out gave up when things got tough.
 

jamalo said:
Disappointed in Austin. Cost us a chance to win with the two late turnovers.

This team has a totally different vibe from Tubby's; will take it any day of the week
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This team goes as Austin goes. He got pushed around all game and forced it too much at crunch time. I can't believe one of their biggest weaknesses right now has been Austin's play. I think he will turn things around and we will surprise people.
 

WhoFellDownTheGopherHole? said:
Definitely not getting foul calls here late in the game - every time MSU drives though, one is called.
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Life on the road in the Big Ten. Especially when whining Izzo has his way with the refs. But still I was surprised they didn't call a foul when it looked like Valentine hit Hollins on the forearm or wrist as he shot that 3 with less than a minute to go in regulation and the Gophers down 3. I thought it was pretty clear he got all arm on that play - if they don't call that one, I don't know what you can expect them to call on the home team.
 

MadtownGopher said:
We also failed to win more than one road game in Big Ten play. I'd take this team over last year's team from a watchability standpoint every time. They never give up. Way too many times last year the team flat out gave up when things got tough.
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At this point last year, Gophers were 15-2 (3-1) with wins against MSU and at Illinois. Losses to Duke and at Indiana.

I just thought it was a ridiculous statement that this years team is so more exciting to watch. We blew a half time lead and didn't score for 12 minutes. I guess my Tubby hatred wasn't strong enough to effect my enjoyment of last years big wins.

Overall I'm extremely happy with this team, but they haven't seen anything tough yet to give up on. Except maybe the Arkansas game.
 

Gold Vision said:
At this point last year, Gophers were 15-2 (3-1) with wins against MSU and at Illinois. Losses to Duke and at Indiana.

I just thought it was a ridiculous statement that this years team is so more exciting to watch. We blew a half time lead and didn't score for 12 minutes. I guess my Tubby hatred wasn't strong enough to effect my enjoyment of last years big wins.

Overall I'm extremely happy with this team, but they haven't seen anything tough yet to give up on. Except maybe the Arkansas game.
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Isn't that sort of a compliment? They have played two top five teams and never got knocked down to the point where they put themselves in that sort of situation where they could give up.

Although I would also argue that today's game would fit that criteria. They went absolutely ice cold in the second half, got down by six (or so) and could have laid down but never really did.

I'm not really arguing with your post. I'm also very encouraged by this year's team.
 

Gold Vision said:
At this point last year, Gophers were 15-2 (3-1) with wins against MSU and at Illinois. Losses to Duke and at Indiana.

I just thought it was a ridiculous statement that this years team is so more exciting to watch. We blew a half time lead and didn't score for 12 minutes. I guess my Tubby hatred wasn't strong enough to effect my enjoyment of last years big wins.

Overall I'm extremely happy with this team, but they haven't seen anything tough yet to give up on. Except maybe the Arkansas game.
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+1
 

golfing18now said:
Isn't that sort of a compliment? They have played two top five teams and never got knocked down to the point where they put themselves in that sort of situation where they could give up. Although I would also argue that today's game would fit that criteria. They went absolutely ice cold in the second half, got down by six (or so) and could have laid down but never really did. I'm not really arguing with your post. I'm also very encouraged by this year's team.
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Definitely. I was just saying things was clicking last year at this time too.

I'm not sure why I even started arguing. It's ok for people to enjoy different things. I just think sometimes people have short memories.
 

Gold Vision said:
Definitely. I was just saying things was clicking last year at this time too.

I'm not sure why I even started arguing. It's ok for people to enjoy different things. I just think sometimes people have short memories.
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I think people just got sick of the great non-conference performances that seemed to lead to nothing but epic let downs once Tubby and Co. hit conference play. You knew it was coming every year.
 

MadtownGopher said:
I think people just got sick of the great non-conference performances that seemed to lead to nothing but epic let downs once Tubby and Co. hit conference play. You knew it was coming every year.
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For sure. I just don't get how blowing leads against all 4 of our conference opponents to date differs from what we saw last year. Go gophers, maybe I'm just easily amused.
 

EE really showed his lack athleticism down the stretch. He was dunked on twice, got his shot blocked by smaller player at the rim, gave up many offensive rebounds, and could not contain the dribble in pick and roll situations. The Hollins boys and Malik cannot create their shot against quality defenders and are poor finishers at the rim. Lil Dre is the man and without him this team would be very mediocre. As teams realize they can press up on the other guards and lay off of Lil Dre the offensive woes will continue against the better athletes. As the scouting of this team intensifies, it will get worse and not better as season progresses. King and Oto have no business playing in a major conference. Pitino got lucky he convinced Lil Dre to come here otherwise this would be a disaster.
 

jumpstop said:
EE really showed his lack athleticism down the stretch. He was dunked on twice, got his shot blocked by smaller player at the rim, gave up many offensive rebounds, and could not contain the dribble in pick and roll situations. The Hollins boys and Malik cannot create their shot against quality defenders and are poor finishers at the rim. Lil Dre is the man and without him this team would be very mediocre. As teams realize they can press up on the other guards and lay off of Lil Dre the offensive woes will continue against the better athletes. As the scouting of this team intensifies, it will get worse and not better as season progresses. King and Oto have no business playing in a major conference. Pitino got lucky he convinced Lil Dre to come here otherwise this would be a disaster.
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Were you able to watch the game? We took the 5th rated team in the country into overtime.
 

I love how people say Pitino got lucky with Matheiu. Why did he get lucky? Seems to me he recognized a talented PG and recruited him to play for him. There was no luck involved, just an eye for talent and the ability to build a solid enough relationship to get the kid to commit.
 

jumpstop said:
EE really showed his lack athleticism down the stretch. He was dunked on twice, got his shot blocked by smaller player at the rim, gave up many offensive rebounds, and could not contain the dribble in pick and roll situations. The Hollins boys and Malik cannot create their shot against quality defenders and are poor finishers at the rim. Lil Dre is the man and without him this team would be very mediocre. As teams realize they can press up on the other guards and lay off of Lil Dre the offensive woes will continue against the better athletes. As the scouting of this team intensifies, it will get worse and not better as season progresses. King and Oto have no business playing in a major conference. Pitino got lucky he convinced Lil Dre to come here otherwise this would be a disaster.
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Man, you are way off on today's game, did you even watch? Little Dre was a train wreck today with 4 TOs and multiple blocked shots going out of control into the lane. Dre Hollins was 7-14 and went to the line 8 times. He can absolutely create.
 

Trolls don't watch games, they just wait for box scores. If the team loses they log in, if the team wins they stay away.
 

MadtownGopher said:
Trolls don't watch games, they just wait for box scores. If the team loses they log in, if the team wins they stay away.
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Yep, the smartest commentors know how to determine value of a player by how many points they score, and that is all.
 

EE had 4 fouls down the stretch and therefore played cautiously to stay in the game. It's incredibly tough to win at Breslin. I'm not a griping sort of guy but it sure looked like Valentine fouled Dre H at the end of regulation (sorry if others have already mentioned that ad nauseum)and Andre should have been at the line for three FTs to win the game.

What seems apparent tho is Gophs play better at crunch Time with a fast and furious approach enabling Dre M to setup others rather than going half court, particularly on the road, where refs swallow the whistle when the visitors get hacked (gripe number 2, apologies again).
 

Continue to make excuses for EE I know what I saw and he was a nonfactor on offense and was abused on defense. Lil Dre is the only breakdown guard on this team and that is a fact. Andre H is not quick enough or good enough ball handler and the offense sputters when he is running the point. He got bailed out twice on two previous three point attempts and also is an average to below average defender. Austin Hollins is afraid to shoot the ball when he comes off of those curls and Malik can only shoot when his feet are set. Lil Dre is making these guys look a lot better than they are.
 

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