This was a game I had to catch late on the DVR and I am glad I was able to avoid seeing the score! What a performance by the Gophers! I don't think too many teams have a guy like Andre Hollins go down on the first play and don't miss a beat. I thought it was strange that neither the play by play guy or the color guy mentioned anything about Andre not being given room to land on that shot. I don't think it was intentional, but that's a foul. I can't believe that this is the same Mo Walker of three weeks ago, much less that same Mo Walker that basically embarrassed himself with his play/conditioning last season. Mo couldn't make it up and down the court, couldn't get in a stance, and everybody could score on him last year. His explosion appears to be improving weekly now as evidenced by a dunk tonight that he certainly wouldn't have been able to execute a month ago. Those 12 (?) straight points from Mo in the first half were huge and made a loud crowd get that much louder.
Not many people will probably remember, but Oto was excellent in the first half. He had the 3 point play, the follow tip in, and numerous other hustle/effort plays in the first 20 minutes. Oto was one of the tone setter tonight.
Malik Smith did an excellent job handling the ball when he was pressed in to that role more often with Dre Hollins out. Malik made a couple nice drives to the basket and plays with a confidence that you hope can continue to infect the rest of this team. I bet Malik legitimately believes he can do anything on the basketball court which can be a negative, but it's certainly a positive with him on this team. As someone else mentioned, this was the most solid I've seen Maverick with the ball in a B1G game against a decent opponent. I can't remember a "Mav moment" where he was overwhelmed and turned it over from this game.
Star of the night has to be DeAndre Mathieu. I don't want to go as far as saying that was some Bobby Jackson level stuff...but I wouldn't blame you if you did! The Gophers scored on something like 20 of 26 possessions in the second half and every time I felt like the Badgers were uncomfortably close, Mathieu got in the lane and hit another floater or mid range J. The kid is fearless and I'd imagine the "U" would make a killing if they could print up some Minnesota #4 jerseys (replica or official). Most consistently exciting player to watch in a long time.
Really, really happy for Austin Hollins. The kid has been struggling, but came up with some very important baskets in the second half and the unquestioned highlight of the night with the rock back one hander and 1. If you got the game on DVR, check out the reactions from the crowd behind the Gophers bench. The guy in the Dallas Mavericks sweatshirt has a good one as do several others.
The Barn sounded amazing tonight and I'd be interested to hear if anyone thinks the Barn still wasn't "the Barn" tonight. That seemed like a level 10 atmosphere on TV. Kudos to the students and everyone else who made noise tonight.
I can't state enough how impressed I am with Coach Pitino. The intangibles are all there: he has his kids playing hard every game, they seem to like playing for him, and he has them believing they are a good team. The on court stuff has been tremendous, he's not afraid to wear out certain sets or plays (lots of high ball screens for Mathieu in the 2nd half) and he's shown good scouting/awareness to attack the oppositions weak spots. Who would have thought we'd have two quality wins this year largely due to effective post offense? It's one thing to know where to attack, but it's another to find a way to attack AND get your team to execute that attack. I also thought that in this game, the decision to work the clock a bit in the half court from about ~8 min through the end of the game was a wise one. The Gophers could get a good shot off of the high pick action at any time, so why not take some time off the clock with the lead? There was a great balance between playing fast at times and also slowing it down when the situation called for it.
I thought the officiating was CRAP in this game. My biggest issue tonight was the number of times Badgers (especially Jim Jackson's son) used their off hand while dribbling to create space against a Gopher defender. I wouldn't have minded that, except that the officials constantly called the Gopher defenders for touch fouls on Jackson and others on the perimeter. In a game where Minnesota was the team that was getting the ball in the paint, it's curious to me how the Badgers managed so few fouls in relation to the Gophers. It ended up not affecting the outcome of the game, but it would have been a real shame if the Gophers lost a close one tonight because the Badgers seemingly lived on the line in the 2nd half.
Really impressed with Sam Dekker. That kid reminds me some of Sam Jacobson. Very skilled and has the versatility to score inside and outside. Oto and Joey were really working hard against him, but that kid was on another level.
Great that Jarvis was in the building for the game tonight, I hope either him or Alex decides soon that they want to be the first Minnesota high school kid to commit to Coach Pitino.
Nebraska is going to be a tough game as they're 1-1 at home in conference play with a close loss to Michigan and a convincing win over tOSU. Pitino and his staff are going to have their work cut out form them getting the team up for a game in Lincoln after this big win. Hopefully lessons learned in Iowa City will be remembered
