GAME #18: Gophers (13-4, 2-2) v. #9/11 tOSU (15-2, 2-2) [ESPN2, 1/16, 8:00PM]

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Gopherguy0723 said:
Post Game thoughts:

1. Good win by the Gophers. They had to get a win in this tough stretch and they got one. Let's grab another.

2. Aaron Craft, like Ohio State, is massively overrated. We are much better than them. They should not be ranked, and Craft doesn't deserve the publicity he gets. Thus, I doubt this game will be seen as a big win for us.

3. Austin Hollins must come off the bench or have his minutes cut significantly. Malik Smith is better. Austin Hollins can neither dribble nor shoot. He dribbles like Mav and shoots like Rodney.
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#2 and 3 are so knee jerk it's not even funny.

Austin is in a nasty funk and will likely be until we are done with this tough stretch of comp... Gonna be difficult getting in rhythm against some of these nasty defensive teams....

Crazy thing is the last two games our post play has made major contributions... Very nice to see mo making plays and EE playing with supreme confidence.
 

LOVE that Pitino one upped Tubby by beating the #11 team after Tubby knocked off the #12 team. ;)
 


Winasota Gopher said:
#2 and 3 are so knee jerk it's not even funny.

Austin is in a nasty funk and will likely be until we are done with this tough stretch of comp... Gonna be difficult getting in rhythm against some of these nasty defensive teams....

Crazy thing is the last two games our post play has made major contributions... Very nice to see mo making plays and EE playing with supreme confidence.
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How is it knee jerk? Ohio State has lost three in a row. Are they not overrated at #11? Aaron Craft has no offense to speak of, but he can pass and defend. Austin Hollins has been suspect in 4 of our 5 Big Ten games, and that is being kind to the kid.

Our two best players are Mathieu and EE.
 



Gopherguy0723 said:
How is it knee jerk? Ohio State has lost three in a row. Are they not overrated at #11? Aaron Craft has no offense to speak of, but he can pass and defend. Austin Hollins has been suspect in 4 of our 5 Big Ten games, and that is being kind to the kid.

Our two best players are Mathieu and EE.
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But he can rebound, pass, play defense, rebound some more, get key steals, et.al.
 

What I like most is the way we took control at the end of game. In recent history, I feel like we curl up in a shell and wait and up the clock runs out before we have a chance to blow the lead. Tonight, we imposed our will and actually won the game, instead of just trying not to lose it. In the last few minutes, we were generating turnovers, taking good shots when we had them even though there was time left on the clock, and just generally driving the nail in the coffin.
 

Tully55 said:
Another gem by MadtownGopher with much of the game to go. What a turd!!!!
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The team was going to go in one of two directions after that fiasco. Luckily it lit a fire and helped them rally. Who calls someone a turd nowadays? You can do better than that.
 



Gopherguy0723 said:
Post Game thoughts:

1. Good win by the Gophers. They had to get a win in this tough stretch and they got one. Let's grab another.

2. Aaron Craft, like Ohio State, is massively overrated. We are much better than them. They should not be ranked, and Craft doesn't deserve the publicity he gets. Thus, I doubt this game will be seen as a big win for us.

3. Austin Hollins must come off the bench or have his minutes cut significantly. Malik Smith is better. Austin Hollins can neither dribble nor shoot. He dribbles like Mav and shoots like Rodney.
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Since you won't just give it a rest:

Austin Hollins: 2 of 4 shooting, 4 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL, 1 TO, 6 PTS
Malik Smith: 2 of 6 shooting, 1 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 2 TO, 7 PTS

On the season, Hollins averages way more rebounds and has a better AST/TO ratio than Smith. He also averages half a steal more per 40 minutes played.

Smith has been a great addition and I'm not trying to diminish what he has done. I also think Hollins is struggling with his shooting and ball handling for whatever reason. With that said, Hollins does a lot of the other things very well. He's shown he can play at a high level in the past and he should continue to play significant minutes. Maybe cut down his minutes some but no way should it be significantly.
 


Slim Tubby said:
My observations: 1. This was the best TV crowd that I can recall in some crowd minus the cup-throwing incident. 2. Oto played hard. He lacks talent but I respect what he brought to the table tonight. 3. EE has really improved and Mo is looking better every game. 4. Austin is really in a funk but high character and leadership is obvious. 5. Andre needs more shots and struggles to create his own. 6. Matthieu is pure fun! 7. Did Maverick play a minute tonight? 8. We won't have an Ellenson on the roster next year. 9. Our rebounding is not good. 10. This team is not very talented but Coach Pitino is making me believe that we got ourselves a good one!
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#9 makes no sense after tonight. Destroyed them on the glass.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Since you won't just give it a rest:

Austin Hollins: 2 of 4 shooting, 4 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL, 1 TO, 6 PTS
Malik Smith: 2 of 6 shooting, 1 REB, 0 AST, 1 STL, 2 TO, 7 PTS

On the season, Hollins averages way more rebounds and has a better AST/TO ratio than Smith. He also averages half a steal more per 40 minutes played.

Smith has been a great addition and I'm not trying to diminish what he has done. I also think Hollins is struggling with his shooting and ball handling for whatever reason. With that said, Hollins does a lot of the other things very well. He's shown he can play at a high level in the past and he should continue to play significant minutes. Maybe cut down his minutes some but no way should it be significantly.
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Thank you.
 



If we can continue to get some points out of our post and Dre can stay out of a slump, I really like our chances against anyone in this conference. If Austin turns it around then we'll be even better, but I'm not going to worry too much about him.
 

!!!!!!!!!!!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Great game by the Gophers <a href="http://t.co/AjgAQtMlHC">pic.twitter.com/AjgAQtMlHC</a></p>— Jashon Cornell (@Jay_Rock16) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jay_Rock16/statuses/424040168056565760">January 17, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 


That was the most fun I've had in the barn in a LONG time (I was on vacation during the IU game last year). Things were absolutely rocking. And I was fortunate enough to be close enough to hear what Pitino was saying most of the time. He's fiery. I love this squad. Just tough. They remind me more of that Lawson, Robinson, and Hagen squad. A big man makes a big leap, a juco leads the team offensively, and other guys make major steps forward for a team characterized by heart, grit, and defense. Just fun to watch.
 

MadtownGopher said:
!!!!!!!!!!!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Great game by the Gophers <a href="http://t.co/AjgAQtMlHC">pic.twitter.com/AjgAQtMlHC</a></p>— Jashon Cornell (@Jay_Rock16) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jay_Rock16/statuses/424040168056565760">January 17, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Awesome!!! Glad he was at the game :D
 

Once again Austin does a few things the last 3min that don't end up in the box score to help win the game and people just look at the box score. lol
 

"Wanna know why Minnesota is winning? BECAUSE WE PLAY HARDER!! This is what Josh Martin just tweeted. we are going to be a force next year with EE and Josh inside.
 

DeathClutch said:
Wanna know why Minnesota is winning? BECAUSE WE PLAY HARDER!! This is what Josh Martin just tweeted. awe are going to be a force next year with EE and Josh inside.
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Yeah, plus an ever improving Mo. EE, Martin, Mo, and then Oto and King as needed will be a really good front court next year.
 




Gold Vision said:
#9 makes no sense after tonight. Destroyed them on the glass.
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That's hogwash...OSU is tiny but more athletic. Rebounding is not our strength. Martin will start immediately at the 4. Tonight's game does not represent how we have been on the boards for the season.
 

Slim Tubby said:
That's hogwash...OSU is tiny but more athletic. Rebounding is not our strength. Martin will start immediately at the 4. Tonight's game does not represent how we have been on the boards for the season.
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I totally agree.
 


Twinsfan007 said:
Just checked ESPN and they have us as having the #1 SOS. This can't be right could it? http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rpi/_/teamId/135
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CBS has our SOS at 38, RealtimeRPI at 36 and ESPN at 27. I doubt any of those are updated for tonights game yet, but ESPN might be.

What a great night down at the barn tonight. My top ten list:
10) We looked really lost for the first 8 minutes. At that time we were close to 8 shots and 8 turnovers.
9) We were really lucky to be down only 3 at that time.
8) Our game turned completely in a 2 minute stretch between the 12 minute mark and 10 minute mark. We were confident for the last 30 minutes with only a few exceptions.
7) Austin did not play well, he did not move well to get into position to receive the ball and did not handle it well when he got it. I haven't cringed that much since Shikenjanski(sp?). He still was playing hard on D.
6) Elliot was great.
5) All of the fans on the lower level bench side were standing a lot. The few times I was lucky enough to sit there I have been asked to sit down often.
4) Mo had his best 3 minute stretch ever, and was pretty good the rest of the time he was in the game. Two 3 point opportunities (missed one free throw), followed by giving up the ball - THEN STEALING IT BACK! Awesome.
3) We are so much better with Mathieu on the court. He was the MVP again, even though Elliot was close.
2) Ohio State was really good defensively. They were guarding us all game out to and past the 3 point line and got their hands on a lot of balls. Gophers were ready and picked up many loose balls. We were better and deserved to win.
1) It is so great to have Pitino. There is such a big improvement in so many areas. It seemed we were ready for their pressure, for their inbounding defense (where they lead the country in steals) and for their offense. The substitutions make sense. The minutes make sense and the timeouts are timely. He talks to his players (coaches).

God I hope we can beat the Badgers.
 

This is the happiest I've been as a Gopher fan in a long time. I won't get in to much analysis tonight, but I think both Slim Tubby and Goldfinger made a number of excellent points. I was really nervous about this game when the Gophers had that 4-6 point lead from about the 6 minute mark on and could never get that extra breathing room (often because of a turnover). Instead of melting down like we've seen so often, Andre Hollins hits a huge corner 3 and then a steal leads to an Austin Hollins layup and The Gophers go up 11 to basically put it away.

I am really, really impressed with Coach Pitino: The zone was excellent tonight and the decision in the second half to really focus on getting the ball down low to Elliott and Mo was a game changer. It's one thing to say you're going to get it down low, it's another thing to execute it, and Pitino got his team to execute. It's amazing to me that this Gopher team has been in every game with the exception of the Arkansas game.

The Oto of last year would have never recovered from the first brick he threw up tonight. Oto battled tonight (as he's done every night) and had an important bucket late. It's nice to see him playing his game and not letting one mistake/missed shot define his game.

Mo seems to be improving game by game. It's impressive how Mo (and to a lesser extent McNeil) are developing as the season goes on.

This team would have been in a world of hurt tonight without Mathieu to handle the ball. tOSU's perimeter D made dribbling a dicey proposition for everyone else.

I hope the people with the big $$$ were watching the game tonight. There is every reason to believe we could go on a really fun ride if Coach Pitino gets on a level playing field.
 

Great win, and I'm extremely happy, but people saying this is the best they felt in a long time? come on! IU win was much better and crazy, that was at the end of last season so wasn't that long ago. Best win I have ever personally witnessed as a gophers fan. Hell, we beat MSU last year, wisconsin last year, and we have had some great non conference wins in the past few years, its a good win and we should be happy, but lets not get too carried away.

on a side note, can't believe the improvement I have seen from EE, when was a redshirt freshman, I couldn't understand how he got a B1G scholarship, but boy has he proved me wrong! Must of learned a thing or 2 from Trevor before he left. My jaw dropped when he hit that jumper. Credit to him and pitino for improving his game as much as he has, proud of the big fella!
 

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