It’s shooting, relax....

[alchemy2u]

Please relax, it is not the apocalypse! If the Gophers just shoot 45% on their two’s they win the game against BC. And if they improve the threes into the 22-23% range they win by 10 pts.

I listen to the game on the radio and the announcers were mentioning about all the open looks they were getting, but they couldn’t hit the shots. The condensed schedule and cross country travel seemed to wear the team out. It got worse as the game went on which also indicates fatigue.

For all of the ugly offense they were still getting open shots and should be making those baskets. You are not going to beat anyone only shooting 29%. Let’s chock it up to poor scheduling and just one of those nights where nothing was going right. Hopefully that is out of our system.


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[Otis]

The late start probably didn't help either.

 

[GophersInIowa]

It was ugly but it was just one game. I'm not too worried yet.

 

[big10guy]

It doesn't help to have all your bigs in foul trouble, an every night occurrence with Murphy, your best player. Oturu misses two dunks along with all the bricks tossed from outside. All said, we played terrible and only lost by a dozen. Maybe when the outside jumpers aren't falling, look for something inside the arc. Flash someone like McBrayer, Hurt or Coffey into the middle of the zone for a mid-range jumper. Attack the middle instead of casting up prayers when they're not falling. Murphy needs to hit that short jumper in the middle too. Shooters need confidence, that only happens when the ball goes through the net (even on FTs)

 

[GopherMarchMadness]

The early foul trouble killed us last night--bigs have to be smarter. Especially when they are playing with two fouls in the first half, they have to know that they can't contest shots like they normally would (i.e. Matz picking up his third foul in the first half). If bigs don't get into that early of foul trouble, I think we work a lot better against the zone.

Additionally, I'm going to view last night's shooting performance as a fluke. They were getting great looks, but just couldn't convert. If they knock down a handful of those 2s/3s, and don't miss a couple of dunks, I think the outcome is very different last night. As awful as we played, we were still in striking distance essentially the whole game. I think they'll bounce back on Friday night against Oklahoma State.

 

[MNVCGUY]

The early foul trouble killed us last night--bigs have to be smarter. Especially when they are playing with two fouls in the first half, they have to know that they can't contest shots like they normally would (i.e. Matz picking up his third foul in the first half). If bigs don't get into that early of foul trouble, I think we work a lot better against the zone.

Additionally, I'm going to view last night's shooting performance as a fluke. They were getting great looks, but just couldn't convert. If they knock down a handful of those 2s/3s, and don't miss a couple of dunks, I think the outcome is very different last night. As awful as we played, we were still in striking distance essentially the whole game. I think they'll bounce back on Friday night against Oklahoma State.

As you and others have said our bigs have to do a better job avoiding the dumb fouls. Murphy especially is prone to the unnecessary reach in or bump that gets him in foul trouble and this is a different team when he is not on the court. It is like sometimes he just can't help himself, he is trying to hard to make a play that he doesn't realize when he should let up some to avoid a pointless foul.

Until we get Curry back it will be imperative for the Bigs to avoid dumb fouls.

 

[GopherMarchMadness]

As you and others have said our bigs have to do a better job avoiding the dumb fouls. Murphy especially is prone to the unnecessary reach in or bump that gets him in foul trouble and this is a different team when he is not on the court. It is like sometimes he just can't help himself, he is trying to hard to make a play that he doesn't realize when he should let up some to avoid a pointless foul.

Until we get Curry back it will be imperative for the Bigs to avoid dumb fouls.

100% agreed. I would much rather see Oturu/Murphy/Matz stand there with hands straight up contesting a shot than trying to swat everything away, ESPECIALLY when they've already got one foul. Have to be smarter. Additionally, Murph has to be smarter when it comes to dribbling the ball into the lane; I feel like defenders are being coached (and rightfully so) to step in front of him and take a charge, which he got away with one last night. He isn't a bad ball handler for his size, but that just isn't a smart move to repeatedly try.

 

[BarnBurner]

It doesn't help to have all your bigs in foul trouble, an every night occurrence with Murphy, your best player. Oturu misses two dunks along with all the bricks tossed from outside. All said, we played terrible and only lost by a dozen. Maybe when the outside jumpers aren't falling, look for something inside the arc. Flash someone like McBrayer, Hurt or Coffey into the middle of the zone for a mid-range jumper. Attack the middle instead of casting up prayers when they're not falling. Murphy needs to hit that short jumper in the middle too. Shooters need confidence, that only happens when the ball goes through the net (even on FTs)

Murph has sooooo many opportunities here - sagging D and he is open. First instinct is to drive, i get it. I was hoping he would develop the 15-17 footer in the offseason......

 

[RatherBeGolfing]

I'm not too worried about the shooting as it goes in spurts, though we need Coffey and McB to be better from out there. There are other concerns though:

-Foul trouble by bigs (especially in the first 5 minutes of the game... killer)
-Oturu, Murph and Stockman putting the ball on the floor at all
-IW and Omersa = major liabilities because they have no idea what's going on
-Hurt and Stull are non-contributors. If they can't make shots or even be a threat to take them, there is no purpose for them even being on the floor

People talk about all the depth we have and frankly, we have zero. Maybe one of the bench guys has a decent few minutes here and there but none of them can be counted on to actually contribute.

 

[stocker08]

Correct. The shooting was horrible last night. And BC seemed to have everything roll in. No need for concern yet.

 

[GoGophersUMN]

The shooting was bad because the shot quality was bad. The shot quality was bad because Murphy was in foul trouble. Against a 3-2 zone, running the offense through Murphy is really our only good option and that doesn't work well when he's sitting on the bench.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I'm not too worried about the shooting as it goes in spurts, though we need Coffey and McB to be better from out there. There are other concerns though:

-Foul trouble by bigs (especially in the first 5 minutes of the game... killer)
-Oturu, Murph and Stockman putting the ball on the floor at all
-IW and Omersa = major liabilities because they have no idea what's going on
-Hurt and Stull are non-contributors. If they can't make shots or even be a threat to take them, there is no purpose for them even being on the floor

People talk about all the depth we have and frankly, we have zero. Maybe one of the bench guys has a decent few minutes here and there but none of them can be counted on to actually contribute.

It was a bad game last night but this last part is way too harsh. Matz showed in the other games that he can be a reliable back up center. Washington is very up and down but when he plays under control he gives the team very good minutes and Omersa is playing a bigger role until Curry comes back. Hurt and Stull are going to be matchup plays but both can hit shots and provide solid minutes. The depth is Ok right now but will be very nice when Curry comes back.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

The shooting was bad because the shot quality was bad. The shot quality was bad because Murphy was in foul trouble. Against a 3-2 zone, running the offense through Murphy is really our only good option and that doesn't work well when he's sitting on the bench.

Strongly disagree with this. Not sure why they can't put Amir at free throw line or in the short corner. He can make the shots from there, is an adept passer, has the size to get the ball in those spots. But they choose to flash our bigs repeatedly (or not at all, depending on how well the zone "offense" is working)

 

[goldenboy]

I posted the same thing in a different thread. This is where playing Coffey at the 1 really hurts against the zone. Maybe it’s enticing because he doesn’t face ball pressure like against man D, but he is the best option to flash to the high post against a zone. Murph should be catching the pass from Coffey for a dunk or holding defenders down low so Coffey gets the open 12 footer.

 

[Mulligan]

The shooting was bad because the shot quality was bad. The shot quality was bad because Murphy was in foul trouble. Against a 3-2 zone, running the offense through Murphy is really our only good option and that doesn't work well when he's sitting on the bench.

We had quite a few good looks from the 3 point line so not all the shots were bad. Two, at least, missed dunks and several shots at the rim are also not bad shots. Yes, a lot of things to clean up, but if those early 3's had dropped--and we stay out of foul trouble--it would have been a different outcome. More worried about the fouling than our shooting.

 

[RatherBeGolfing]

It was a bad game last night but this last part is way too harsh. Matz showed in the other games that he can be a reliable back up center. Washington is very up and down but when he plays under control he gives the team very good minutes and Omersa is playing a bigger role until Curry comes back. Hurt and Stull are going to be matchup plays but both can hit shots and provide solid minutes. The depth is Ok right now but will be very nice when Curry comes back.

It's harsh but true. Curry is our only potential real positive depth contributor and even quite frankly, I think people are overestimating his ability to step right back in and be totally fine. It's going to take time. Otherwise, let's look at our bench:
-IW = loose cannon, has no feel for what's going on. When he plays under control? That's what, 1 in every 6-7 possessions? You can't rely on that. It's one thing to be aggressive and to be an instant offense type of guy. It's another to know you actually aren't that great at creating instant offense and you have very minimal feel for the game.
-Omersa = like a video game character who you just keep pressing the jump button for. That's all he does is go around out there and jump everywhere. Net negative when he's in the game.
-Stockman = at least kind of competent but I think it has more to do with we were so used to BK and Gaston coming in as backup centers that we were fine with basically anyone else more than it is Matz being able to handle more than 5-10 good minutes. Does many boneheaded things as well
-Stull = I'll admit, he's the one I thought would be a bigger contributor. Surprised he isn't seeing more game time especially with our lack of guard depth.
-Hurt = For someone that's supposed to be a good shooter, he 1. doesn't even shoot much when in the game and 2. doesn't make shots on the rare occasion he takes them. I don't want to hear about how good he is at cutting, he is a guy on the perimeter when he goes in that the other team doesn't even have to really guard because they know he's not a threat

So where is all that depth we have?