Game Preview: vs. Appalachian State 12/6/11 & J.B.'s Jottings

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The Gophers (8-1) look to add another victory to their two-game winning streak on Tuesday night when the Mountaineers of Appalachian State (4-3 overall; 1-1 conference; 2-3 against D-I opponents) visit Minneapolis. The Big Ten Network will broadcast the 7pm CT game. Located in Boone, North Carolina, Appalachian State’s second year coach is Jason Capel, a former star at North Carolina and just 31 years old.

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1597
 

Insightful. I always love the editorialization. Good stuff. Looks like the Gophers match up pretty well against them.
 

GopherSports: Blog: Coaching Connections

Appalachian State head coach Jason Capel was still in high school the last time Tubby Smith faced the Mountaineers, an 85-67 win for Smith's Georgia Bulldogs in 1996. But Tuesday's matchup between Smith and Capel's teams is not the first time the two coaches have been each other's opponents. Early in the 2001-02 season, when Smith was the head coach at Kentucky and Capel was a senior guard for North Carolina, Smith's Wildcat's defeated Capel's Tar Heels, 79-59.

http://www.gophersports.com/blog/2011/12/blog-coaching-connections.html

Go Gophers!!
 

From Appalachian State website


Men's Basketball Challenges Minnesota
Courtesy: Appalachian Sports Information
Release: Monday 12/05/2011 (ET)

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Gameday Central
Big Ten Network
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Appalachian State University men’s basketball wraps up a two-game road trip at Minnesota on Tuesday on the Big Ten Network. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. ET.

The Mountaineers (4-3) were dealt their first conference loss of the season in a 73-62 setback at Georgia Southern on Saturday night. Appalachian was led by 13 points each from Omar Carter and Andre Williamson. Williamson also led ASU with nine rebounds.

The Apps shot a solid 48.9 percent from the floor, including a 59.4 shooting percentage inside the arc. ASU found trouble from downtown (4-15) and the foul line (12-26) to secure its fate against the Eagles, who improved to 2-0 in Southern Conference play.

Carter led ASU with 18.5 points and 8.0 rebounds on the week.

Following Tuesday's game, Appalachian returns home to host ETSU on Saturday at 2 p.m.

SCOUTING THE GOPHERS
• Minnesota won its first six games of the season before falling at Dayton on Nov. 27. The Golden Gophers lost more than the game, as preseason all-American Trevor Mbakwe suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 86-70 setback. The senior averaged 14.0 points and 9.1 rebounds in seven games.
• Since then, UM picked up a pair of wins against Virginia Tech and Southern California, despite not topping the 60-point mark in either contest.
• Austin Hollins leads the team with 9.7 points per game, while Julian Welch adds 9.2 points and 2.6 assists per game for Tubby Smith’s squad.
• Minnesota holds a solid 35.1-28.4 advantage on the glass against its opponents this season, including 12.8 offensive rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
• Minnesota won the only meeting between the two teams, 81-67, in November 1998.
• ASU last faced a Big Ten team in the 2000 NCAA Tournament, an 87-61 setback against Ohio State.
• Southern Conference teams are 0-2 against the Big Ten this season following Chattanooga’s 78-53 loss to Indiana and Wisconsin’s 69-33 win against Wofford.
• The Mountaineers hold a 1-6 record against current Big Ten teams with one loss each against Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio State and Purdue. ASU is 1-2 against league newcomer Nebraska after defeating the Huskers, 91-82, on Dec. 1, 1993.
• Minnesota is 7-0 against the Southern Conference over the last 10 seasons. The Gophers opened the 2010-11 season with a 69-55 win against Wofford.
 

BigGopherFan said:
Insightful. I always love the editorialization. Good stuff. Looks like the Gophers match up pretty well against them.
Click to expand...


Actually, I think we will have some match-ups issues. This is a physical and veteran squad with three Sr.'s led by Butts is 6-10/290, Williamson 6-7/240 and Carter 6-5/215. They have been strong on the boards and have the ability to block shots. Trice is a 6-6/230 G/F and averages 44% from 3-land.

EE will have his hands full with Butts and Hollins has to stop Trice from the perimeter. Rodney will be outsized by Williamson if those are the match-ups. Oto and Ingram need to step up as we will be outsized in the paint and Welch and Chip need to bring their A game.

With Andre and RS ??'s and likely not up to speed, it appears that AS has more depth as well.
 


Didn't the Apps team upset Michigan in football 3 years ago? Stands to reason they've some athletes.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
EE will have his hands full with Butts
Click to expand...

True, but App State is bad. If they go 14/18 from deep, be worried... otherwise, no problemo.

Big concern though--is BW3 open late on Tuesdays? Might need to stop in there right after the Gopher game for the second half of Marquette / Washington
 

Gophers Look to Stay Hot against Appalachian State --(gophersports.com) link bottom

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Time: 7:00 p.m. CT
Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
Arena: Williams Arena (14,625)
Television: BTN
Eric Collins (Play-by-Play)
Tim Doyle (Analyst)
Radio: Learfield/1500 ESPN Twin Cities
Mike Grimm (Play-by-Play)
Spencer Tollackson (Analyst)

SERIES INFORMATION
Series: First Meeting (1998 Matchup Vacated)
Series Home/Away: N/A
Current Streak: N/A
Last Meeting: 1998 - Vacated
Tubby Smith vs. Appalachian State: 1-0
Minnesota vs. Southern Conference: 10-1
Tubby Smith vs. Southern Conference: 8-1

GAME DAY TID-BITS
• The Gophers and Mountaineers played to open the 1998-99 season, a 81-67 Minnesota victory at Williams Arena, but the game has since been vacated.
• Appalachian State is the third Southern Conference team to travel to Big Ten Country during the 2011-12 season. Wisconsin defeated Wofford and Indiana beat Chattanooga.
• The Mountaineers have already played two Southern Conference games this season, a win over UNC Greensboro and a loss to Georgia Southern. Minnesota opens Big Ten play at Illinois on Dec. 27.
• Appalachian State head coach Jason Capel is in his second season at the helm of the Mountaineers. Tubby Smith coached against his father Jeff Capel Jr. as a high school coach in North Carolina and as a collegiate coach while at Tulsa. Capel Jr. was the head coach at Old Dominion from 1994-2001.
• Minnesota has led the Big Ten Conference in blocked shots during the last three seasons, including three of the top four season block totals in the history of the Gopher program: a program leading 201 in 2008-09, 199 in 2009-10 and 169 last season. Senior Ralph Sampson III led the team in blocked shots last season and is currently fourth all-time in program history with 172 career swats. Minnesota has blocked 50 shots already this season,second in the Big Ten behind Illinois, led by Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney William with 12 apiece.

PICKING UP THE SLACK
• Minnesota will have to play out the season without its senior forward Trevor Mbakwe, a Preseason All-American, following a knee injury. He was averaging a team-high 14.0 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
• The Gophers have prevailed in their first two games without Mbakwe, a 58-55 victory over Virginia Tech in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Nov. 30 and a 55-40 win over USC on Dec. 3.
• Junior Rodney Williams has moved to the power forward position and has contributed averages of 13 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals, 2.5 blocks and 36.0 minutes per game.
• Junior Julian Welch made his first start as a Gopher against Virginia Tech and led the team with 15 points and four assists. He also led the team with 16 points and a career-high six assists against USC.
• Freshman Elliott Eliason started in the place of the also injured Ralph Sampson III and contributed career-highs in minutes played (32), points (8), rebounds (7) and blocks (2) against Virginia Tech. Against USC, Eliason was once again in the starting lineup and finished with a career-high nine rebounds.

SECOND HALF BURST
• Through nine games of the 2011-12 season, Minnesota is outscoring its opponents at a plus-52 (5.8 average) rate in the second half of games as opposed to a plus-25 (2.8 average) in the first half.
• The Gophers largest second half plus-minus of the season is +14, Nov. 14 vs. South Dakota State and Nov. 25 vs. Indiana State.
• Minnesota has only been outscored in the second half twice this season, by four Nov. 21 vs. Mount St. Mary’s and by seven against Dayton.
• The Gophers have been behind at the start of the second half four times this season, including down 10 to DePaul. Minnesota has won three of the four games.
• Minnesota has shot over 60% in the second half of two games this season, .650 (13-20) against Virginia Tech and .609 (14-23) against South Dakota State.
• The Gophers are shooting .502 (113-225) as a team in the second half of games this season.

REVAMPED ROSTER
The Gophers are now without six players from last season that combined to play in nearly 500 career NCAA basketball games, led by Blake Hoffarber who played a Gopher record 132 career games.

Through nine games this season Tubby Smith has played seven players that came into the season with zero games played in a Minnesota uniform - three true freshmen, a pair of redshirt freshmen and two junior college transfers.

Junior College transfer Julian Welch and true freshman Andre Hollins are averaging 9.2 and 7.8 points, respectively, to lead the Gopher “new” players. Welch made his first Gopher start against Virginia Tech and contributed a team-high 15 points in the victory. Hollins has started every game this season and already has three double-figure scoring games.

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/120511aaa.html
 




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