GAME #22: Gophers (15-6, 4-4) v. Northwestern (11-11, 4-5) [BTN, 2/1, 1:00PM)

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I'm not sure anyone ever said or thought this team was an exceptional team. We've all thought (and hoped) we were a "bubble" team. Today we simply didn't make the shots we needed to make while Northwestern did make those shots. Games like this happen to teams like the Gophers who are not superior to many of the teams they face.

I cannot complain about how our kids executed. We got open looks. We made some great cuts on the offensive end and played fundamentally sound basketball. We just didn't make the shots while Northwestern did. I tip my hat to the Wildcats and I tip my hat to our Gophers. They had the chances to win, but just couldn't get the ball to drop through the netting. Bummer. Lace 'em up and get after it against Purdue on Wednesday!
 

If you are waiting or hoping for the refs to bail you out, you're in trouble.

A winning team has the mindset that they don't expect to get calls - they keep playing and make their own luck.

The players cannot be worrying about fouls that are called or not called. That is the Coach's job.

The officials did not make Smith go 1-9 on 3-pt attempts. The officials did not cause any turnovers, or tell the Gophers to miss shots in the paint.

I was at a HS game on Saturday. In the first half, the team I was following wasn't getting calls and they got frustrated. In the 2nd half, they came out, played more aggressively, kept driving to the basket, and guess what, they started getting calls.

Quit whining about the officiating. It just reinforces the stereotype that Reusse and others have about the Gopher fan base.
 

tinyarch said:
I'm not sure anyone ever said or thought this team was an exceptional team. We've all thought (and hoped) we were a "bubble" team. Today we simply didn't make the shots we needed to make while Northwestern did make those shots. Games like this happen to teams like the Gophers who are not superior to many of the teams they face.

I cannot complain about how our kids executed. We got open looks. We made some great cuts on the offensive end and played fundamentally sound basketball. We just didn't make the shots while Northwestern did. I tip my hat to the Wildcats and I tip my hat to our Gophers. They had the chances to win, but just couldn't get the ball to drop through the netting. Bummer. Lace 'em up and get after it against Purdue on Wednesday!
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Well said and now that I've cooled off, we played NW when no one wants to play them, they're playing good ball and they earned that win. Games like that are gonna happen this year and even years when Pitino has his recruits and has good teams. Will win some games we're not suppose to as well, I thought this team would finish 8-10 at the start of the year, I still think they can go 9-9 and there's no reason they can't beat Purdue with or without Dre. if anything this group is mentally tougher than season's past
 

Look, NW was making some incredible shots. They're on a great run right now. We really, really needed Dre in this game. His outside shooting and ability to create would have helped immensely. So, terrible reffing, a hot opponent, injury to best player, missed layups, missed free throws, and inability to make shots all combined to give us the W. If we beat Purdue on the road, we're in fine shape. If not, Indiana becomes an absolutely must-win (it's pretty close to one now). Man, do we need Dre back.
 

jmag21 said:
Look, NW was making some incredible shots. They're on a great run right now. We really, really needed Dre in this game. His outside shooting and ability to create would have helped immensely. So, terrible reffing, a hot opponent, injury to best player, missed layups, missed free throws, and inability to make shots all combined to give us the W. If we beat Purdue on the road, we're in fine shape. If not, Indiana becomes an absolutely must-win (it's pretty close to one now). Man, do we need Dre back.
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Psssst, we lost.
 



Yeah Malik Smith had a bad shooting night, and we didn't shoot free throws very well, among other reasons we didn't have a comfortable lead at the end. But a bad no call, is a bad no call, and where else are the Gopher faithful going to complain about it. I though the reason Mo missed the bunny was that he was pushed. He played very well tonight, and I don't think he would have missed that shot unless he was pushed.
 

vagopher said:
Yeah Malik Smith had a bad shooting night, and we didn't shoot free throws very well, among other reasons we didn't have a comfortable lead at the end. But a bad no call, is a bad no call, and where else are the Gopher faithful going to complain about it. I though the reason Mo missed the bunny was that he was pushed. He played very well tonight, and I don't think he would have missed that shot unless he was pushed.
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Damn it! If he hadn't lost those 60 pounds, that push wouldn't have affected him.
 

The Gophers looked awful to start the game. I thought the team was lucky that a few of their inside shots in the first half that looked like prayers more than actual solid attempts went in or they could had a 16 point deficit to come back from instead of just 10. I didn't understand the desire to run the pick and roll so often when Mathieu had Cobb or someone else with size already guarding him...spread the floor and let him operate. In the second half, Coach Pitino let Joey King get exposed defensively for too long before yanking him out. I didn't like the energy or the game plan from the Gophers today. It would be nice if the Gophers would hit a few late clock jumpers like Northwestern did. It seems like as soon as Mo got going this season, Elliott started struggling so the impact of Mo's offensive success is minimized.

This has every bit the feel of another collapse of a season, you can't lose that game at home when you are a team with little margin for error. I guess the difference is this year, I think the team is being exposed as just not good enough. Hopefully things change, but nothing about today was encouraging.
 



stocker08 said:
Were we a better team than NC when we beat them a few years ago? Were we better than Louisville when we beat them a few years ago? If NW is a better team than Minnesota......that also makes them better than every team that we have beaten.....no? They should easily be top 25 according to you.
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They should have a better B1G record than Minnesota. Oh look, they do!
 


With Dre Hollins out and Smith going 1-9 they were lucky to have a chance at the end, those two are their three point threats, they were lucky to have a chance at the end, Mathieu really has to come up big when that scenario plays out, getting Dre back will make a huge difference.
 

EG#9 said:
This has every bit the feel of another collapse of a season, you can't lose that game at home when you are a team with little margin for error. I guess the difference is this year, I think the team is being exposed as just not good enough. Hopefully things change, but nothing about today was encouraging.
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This has every bit the feel of a team that has little depth. With a healthy Andre we are 6-3.
 



jovs said:
With Dre Hollins out and Smith going 1-9 they were lucky to have a chance at the end, those two are their three point threats, they were lucky to have a chance at the end, Mathieu really has to come up big when that scenario plays out, getting Dre back will make a huge difference.
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Exactly. Not having a good game by Smith meant that it could have easily been a blowout loss. NW is better than people are giving them credit for.
 

station19 said:
This has every bit the feel of a team that has little depth. With a healthy Andre we are 6-3.
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I agree on the little depth. I do think the Gophers had plenty of talent on the floor to beat Northwestern at home. The Wildcats have no interior scoring options, no great ball handlers...and the Gophers allowed them to put up their most efficient offensive performance since playing Mississippi Valley State sometime in mid December (hat tip to GopherWarrior).
 

EG#9 said:
I agree on the little depth. I do think the Gophers had plenty of talent on the floor to beat Northwestern at home. The Wildcats have no interior scoring options, no great ball handlers...and the Gophers allowed them to put up their most efficient offensive performance since playing Mississippi Valley State sometime in mid December (hat tip to GopherWarrior).
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The key to any season is winning games when you aren't playing your best. No team can play their best all the time. With Andre, if we don't play our best, we still win the last two games.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
If you are waiting or hoping for the refs to bail you out, you're in trouble.

A winning team has the mindset that they don't expect to get calls - they keep playing and make their own luck.

The players cannot be worrying about fouls that are called or not called. That is the Coach's job.

The officials did not make Smith go 1-9 on 3-pt attempts. The officials did not cause any turnovers, or tell the Gophers to miss shots in the paint.

I was at a HS game on Saturday. In the first half, the team I was following wasn't getting calls and they got frustrated. In the 2nd half, they came out, played more aggressively, kept driving to the basket, and guess what, they started getting calls.

Quit whining about the officiating. It just reinforces the stereotype that Reusse and others have about the Gopher fan base.
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Spot on Ornery.
 

stay focused

Northwestern has 3 perimeter guys that can get their own shots, we have 2 and one is injured. Getting players who can create and are athletic and strong enough to make plays when the offense breaks down make or break teams all the time.
 

march madness said:
Northwestern has 3 perimeter guys that can get their own shots, we have 2 and one is injured. Getting players who can create and are athletic and strong enough to make plays when the offense breaks down make or break teams all the time.
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NU has one of the worst offensive teams in D1 ball. We crapped the bed.
 

Gold Vision said:
NU has one of the worst offensive teams in D1 ball. We crapped the bed.
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Again I'm asked, what are you going to believe, my post or your eyes. You're full of shat. I didn't see a terrible offensive team yesterday. They had trouble figuring things out early in the season, and now they're a good team. Don't try to warp reality around your agenda.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Again I'm asked, what are you going to believe, my post or your eyes. You're full of shat. I didn't see a terrible offensive team yesterday. They had trouble figuring things out early in the season, and now they're a good team. Don't try to warp reality around your agenda.
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Haha, what the hell are you talking about? I'm now actually curious what my agenda is. NU has been awful on the offensive end all year, they have the worst offensive efficiency in conference games and it's not even close.

They have a much improved defense, and it has won them some nice conference games, but NU offense is not something to rave about. What are you going to believe stats or your eyes?
 


short ornery norwegian said:
If you are waiting or hoping for the refs to bail you out, you're in trouble.

A winning team has the mindset that they don't expect to get calls - they keep playing and make their own luck.

The players cannot be worrying about fouls that are called or not called. That is the Coach's job.

The officials did not make Smith go 1-9 on 3-pt attempts. The officials did not cause any turnovers, or tell the Gophers to miss shots in the paint.

I was at a HS game on Saturday. In the first half, the team I was following wasn't getting calls and they got frustrated. In the 2nd half, they came out, played more aggressively, kept driving to the basket, and guess what, they started getting calls.

Quit whining about the officiating. It just reinforces the stereotype that Reusse and others have about the Gopher fan base.
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Is this exclusively a Minnesota thing? I'm pretty sure fans of any team in pretty much any sport complain about officiating sometimes, especially in the case where one call going the other way can be the difference between winning and losing the game.

A couple quotes from a Wisconsin board:

Wildcats with 3 straight road wins for the first time in 54 years. NU 55 Minn 54

Tons of contact on the final possession with no calls.
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Minnesota clearly should have been at the line.
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And one from an Illinois board

Northwestern held on to win on the other end with defense in the final seconds as refs swallowed their whistles. No home cooking for Minny.
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We aren't the only ones who thought it was a bad no-call. I kinda think if this happens at Indiana or Michigan State, they get that call.
 

The beef I have with the no calls at the end of the games is that the contact on Mathieu and Walker are both likely called if it's not the last possession of the game. The same as the no call at the end of the MSU game when Mathieu tied it up. Another one that comes to mine is A.J. Hammons getting literally clobbered at the end of their game at NW a couple weeks ago, which coincidentally enough NW went on to win. The notion of "letting players decide the game" is really stupid. If a player is getting to the rim and drawing contact they should be rewarded for making a play at the end of the game, a foul is a foul.
 

34Gopher said:
The beef I have with the no calls at the end of the games is that the contact on Mathieu and Walker are both likely called if it's not the last possession of the game. The same as the no call at the end of the MSU game when Mathieu tied it up. Another one that comes to mine is A.J. Hammons getting literally clobbered at the end of their game at NW a couple weeks ago, which coincidentally enough NW went on to win. The notion of "letting players decide the game" is really stupid. If a player is getting to the rim and drawing contact they should be rewarded for making a play at the end of the game, a foul is a foul.
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+1 The rule book does not (or at least should not) change at the end of the game.
 

The game is over. We lost. Can we put it to sleep now?
 

34Gopher said:
The beef I have with the no calls at the end of the games is that the contact on Mathieu and Walker are both likely called if it's not the last possession of the game. The same as the no call at the end of the MSU game when Mathieu tied it up. Another one that comes to mine is A.J. Hammons getting literally clobbered at the end of their game at NW a couple weeks ago, which coincidentally enough NW went on to win. The notion of "letting players decide the game" is really stupid. If a player is getting to the rim and drawing contact they should be rewarded for making a play at the end of the game, a foul is a foul.
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Agreed.
 

Cayman said:
+1 The rule book does not (or at least should not) change at the end of the game.
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Which way do you want it? You want that call made throughout the game -- in which case everybody will complain about the pace of play, etc. etc. Or you don't want that call made at any point in the game -- in which case, the Gophers didn't get screwed at all. Not taking you to task, just curious.
 

Either of those last shots could have been called. Neither looked like an obvious foul......but at another point in the game......one would have been called. Hard to blame the refs though. Walker had a layup. No excuse for missing that shot.
 

golfing18now said:
Which way do you want it? You want that call made throughout the game -- in which case everybody will complain about the pace of play, etc. etc. Or you don't want that call made at any point in the game -- in which case, the Gophers didn't get screwed at all. Not taking you to task, just curious.
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From what I recall, there was a lot of body contact on Dre Mathieu's shot, and I think most would be okay with a foul being called there as it relates to the pace of the game or the refs taking too much control. I think complaints about disrupting the pace of play are generally reserved for hand check fouls around the perimeter, ticky tack stuff.

As the no-call went during the game, I think you'd have more unbiased observers saying it should have been a foul, than observers saying "let them play" if it was called.

If we were complaining because a defender put an arm on Mathieu's back on the perimeter and it went uncalled, then I could understand saying that if it was called all the time, the game would be slowed to a snail's pace and become a free throw fest, but it seemed like whoever it was really put his body into Mathieu. But maybe in the context of this game, in which a combined 16 free throws were shot, it made sense to not call it.

If that call is made, and made consistently throughout the game, I don't think many people complain about officials ruining the pace of play.
 

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