Game 6: Gophers host Eastern Illinois (11-20-24)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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The most recent meeting between the Panthers and Gophers occurred two years ago in Williams Arena and featured a Minnesota 4th quarter rally for the win. Minnesota trailed 42-36 at the end of three before outscoring Eastern Illinois 23-6 to escape with a 59-48 victory. That was EIU’s best team in recent memory. The Panthers finished 2nd in the Ohio Valley conference with a 14-4 record (21-8 overall) but didn’t make the NCAA tournament.

Both head coaches from that game have moved on. In fact, Lindsay Whalen, in her last season, was home with an Illness so it was Shimmy Gray Miller prowling the sideline. EIU’s Matt Bollant was there; but after leading the Panthers to a second consecutive 2nd place finish in the OVC, he left last May for Bryan College. Bollant returned to the NAIA program where his head coaching career began. Along the way he spent 5 years at UWGB, 5 years at Illinois and 7 years at Eastern Illinois. Bollant made the NCAA’s four times at UWGB and never found that success again.

Bollant was replaced at Eastern Illinois by Marqus McGlothan who had been an EIU assistant the previous two years. His experience is listed as being an assistant at St. Cloud State and being involved in AAU ball in the Twin Cities. I’m sure someone on this board can fill in some details.

McGlothan’s Panthers are off to a slow start with three road losses: @North Dakota 63-66, @ NDSU 56-65 and @ Illinois 37-84. The Illini set quite a goal for the Gophers.

Three Gophers played key roles in the match-up in December of 2022. Mallory Heyer contributed 10 points and 7 rebounds in 35 minutes, Mara Braun with 8 and 4 in 37 minutes and Amaya Battle with 9 and 8 in 29 minutes.

The Panthers featured one player of note to us today: Macy McGlone. She posted 4 points and 8 rebounds 29 minutes. McGlone is now a 6’3” senior forward who is the returning OVC Player of the Year and Defender of the Year. She racked up 26 double doubles averaging 12.8 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. McGlone was off to a similar start this season; but only had 2 points in 18 minutes against Illinois. I didn’t see a reason for her removal.

5’8” sophomore guard Lalani Ellis was the other offensive driver; but she hasn’t played the last two games.

The Panther’s Minnesota contingent includes 5’6” junior guard Tiny Lewis from St. Cloud, 6’0” fifth year senior Jayde Johnston from Roseville via Valparaiso and 6’1” freshman forward Olivia Thostenson from International Falls. Thostenson has not played.
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After a slow first quarter with some defensive issues; gophers played much better in second quarter. 46-24 at half.
 








MilosRevenge said:
Coach says she "tweaked her foot" "feel for the kid" "still being determined".

As vague as she was, sounds bad to me IMO (the Gopher fan in me).
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Hopefully not too serious. Terrible luck.
Shouldn’t really need her until conference play so has time to rest.
 




They'll be fine without Braun. She's an inefficient, volume scorer.

They have the depth and experience to play well without her.
 

Braun is a 38% FG shooter and 35% from three.. that is through 50+ plus games a pretty good sample size… needs to be more efficient… hopefully she gets healthy and can do so…
 

So the leader of this team suffers another injury, and instantly, we start trashing her? Her shooting needs to be viewed with nuance. She is the main focus of the defense. She is also the most likely to explode in a game (Lehigh, Drake, Michigan, Kentucky) to name a few.

Watch another team if you all have such an issue and feel like nothing but negatively for this team.
 

I have been saying Braun as well as Battle need to be more efficient as players for about 18 months… before any injuries… if you see the game it’s obvious.. I think I am on this board this summer that it was time for the the three juniors to have their most efficient years… not negativity stating facts.. for every game you listed where Braun could would explode I could list games where either she got locked up or was not good..
 

bball_craz_31 said:
So the leader of this team suffers another injury, and instantly, we start trashing her? Her shooting needs to be viewed with nuance. She is the main focus of the defense. She is also the most likely to explode in a game (Lehigh, Drake, Michigan, Kentucky) to name a few.

Watch another team if you all have such an issue and feel like nothing but negatively for this team.
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Mara's value should be appreciated, even with her efficiency challenges. As of today, Mara is top 15 in the league in both Win Shares and Per*Minutes (an estimate of total value created by a player using their per minute player efficiency rating). These stats aggregate by game, and Mara didn't play last night, so her value before last night was likely higher than top 15 in the league. She will be missed if she is out for any extended period of time, although her loss should be lessened this year because of the experience gained playing without her last year and the huge contributions being provided this year by Woodson, Stewart and McKinney.
 


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