Minnesota Gophers Current Statistics in Conference Play -- Ongoing Updates

[Bfan]

I am about to post Gophers conference stats for games ending as of yesterday. I will put that in a different reply.

 

[Bfan]

Statistics as of 1-9-2023 **UPDATE -- SOME INDIVIDUAL STATS IN THIS POST ARE WRONG AND CORRECTED IN ANOTHER POST AFTER**

Gophers are fourth best in the Big Ten in offense -- points scored per game. Way to go Gophers! And that is just going to get better in the next years ahead.



On defense. Gophers are the worst in the Big Ten.




How is it that new player talent can power the offense to #4 but worst on defense?

I have little faith in the way the defense is being coached this season.

Gophers went into Wisconsin and gave Wisconsin 12.7 more points than Wisconsin's average per game.

Last season the Gophers finished 3rd worst on defense. 2021-22 season below.




The season before that the Gophers finished 2nd worst in defense. 2020-21 season below.




Here is a picture of a defense that played against the Gophers earlier this season. Gophers are in white. This is Milwaukee properly boxing out the Gopher players:




Now here is a picture of the Gophers defense against Wisconsin. Gophers are in Maroon.



Compare and contrast those two pictures.



Now onto other statistics for this season:

Freshman Mara Braun is #12 at scoring (points per game). Sophomore Rose Micheaux is #22.




For assists, freshman Amaya Battle is #6 in the Big Ten. Way to go Battle! Katie B (Borowicz) is #17.




Whoa! For rebounds, 3 Gophers make the top dozen at 9-10-11! Rose is at 9, Mallory Heyer is at 10, and Battle is at 11. Way to go!



So Gophers get some love too for the defense side of the ball.

I will say that the rebounds are an improvement over past years. Need to be fair here. Progress.

And the Gophers have a lot of really good young players that are going to just get better and better.


For 3-pointers, Braun is #10 for most 3-pointers per game. Braun is also #12 for best 3-point shooting percentage.


I want to point out that former Gopher Sara Scalia slumped to #20 for 3-pointers, while at Minnesota she was #2 for 3-pointers. Scalia has fallen off the rankings for other stats -- at Minnesota she was #8 for scoring.

The same with Jasmine Powell who has fallen in her stats after leaving Minnesota.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Sometimes you have conference stats, sometimes you have season stats and sometimes you don't say whether the chart is one or the other.
For instance:
In conference play Braun is 21st in scoring.
In conference play Heyer is 4th in rebounding and Battle is 11th. Micheaux isn't in the top 25

 

[Bfan]

Sometimes you have conference stats, sometimes you have season stats and sometimes you don't say whether the chart is one or the other.
For instance:
In conference play Braun is 21st in scoring.
In conference play Heyer is 4th in rebounding and Battle is 11th. Micheaux isn't in the top 25

Thanks for posting this.

I set the button to conference stats and left it there. All stats should be only conference stats. I did not push the button to all season. If it changed then the webpage did that and then my error would be in not seeing that oddly change.

My goal is to post the conference stats.

I will double check that and come back since they should all be conference stats only from the Big Ten site.

 

[Bfan]

2022-2023 Women's Basketball - Conference Statistics - Big Ten Conference

The official 2022-2023 Women's Basketball cumulative statistics for Big Ten Conference

bigten.org

Conference only stats:



Conference only stats:



Here I think the stats flipped wrong when I pulled up the leaders.

Conference stats:


So Braun and Battle make the list for most scoring per game but not until after 20.

Braun has definitely slipped since earlier this season, I assume because teams are focusing more on her but not certain all that is occurring for various reasons.


Conference only:


Rebounding is the most interesting change.

Mallory Heyer jumps up to #4. Way to go Heyer! Amaya Battle #11.

Well that's interesting that Rose Micheaux then drops off the list when using only conference stats. Her scoring also dropped using only Big Ten stats. Rose is doing well, to be sure, but it is interesting to see that shift down.

Conference only stats:



Battle at #6 for assists. Way to go Battle!

Interesting that Borowicz is not on the assists list.

And then Mara Braun appears at #19 for assists.

Now I wonder if Braun's lower scoring is partly Braun playing more the unselfish combo guard game we see in assists... Clearly teams schemed to shut her down, to be clear.

Now this next one is interesting.

Conference stats only;

Sara Scalia completely falls off the 3-point scoring list using conference stats. Heyer as a power forward is at #25. Braun is at #13.



Conference only stats:




OK, so next time I need to check that the button stays selected as conference.

 

[walleye]

Bfan raises an interesting question: "How is it that new player talent can power the offense to #4 but worst on defense?"
I don't think players learn defense like they used too because we are so media driven and scoring driven. The 10 O'Clock highlights predominately show the great shots. The print recaps always report the leading scorers and maybe the leading rebounder, but rarely do you see that John or Jane held the opponent's leading scorer to well below their average. Players watch the NBA where they see offensive flash and much less defense. So, kids want to be flashy and be scorers. They practice scoring on the playground not defense. Many have a lot to learn about defense when they reach college. Coaches probably put more premium in recruiting on ability to score and hope the recruit has enough talent to improve on defense.

Bfan presents troubling statistics. The Gophers ranked in the bottom three (currently last) in scoring defense for the last few years. Because the players were different among the years, the problem is not exclusively due to this year's freshmen. It strongly suggests that the coaching staff is not doing a good job teaching and prioritizing defense.

I think there are other factors contributing to the poor defense. The depth on the team is not strong. We have players playing 30-35 minutes and they don't have the stamina to play 100% on both offense and defense--so they recover during defense and use their energy on offense. I have frequently seen some of our fastest players get beat badly and it could be due to fatigue. There also is a significant drop off when the reserves play, which means the starters don't get enough rest and the reserves give up points.

When many teams get behind, their first impulse is that we have to score lots more points and they forget about defense. They don't realize that they have to stop the bleeding or they won't catch up in points.

 

[BigTenGuy]

Bfan raises an interesting question: "How is it that new player talent can power the offense to #4 but worst on defense?"

With all respect, the premise to the question is wrong because Minnesota is not really # 4 in the league on offense. Points per game, which is dependent on pace of play, is a terrible way to judge offense, or defense. Modern stats show that Minnesota is not anywhere near the top half of the Big Ten on offense (or defense), in conference play or all games.

According to Her Hoop Stats (HHS), in Big Ten play, Minnesota is 11th (tie) in points per scoring attempt (shot or FT trip), 11th in points scored per play (play finished with shot, FT trip or turnover), and 13th in effective FG% (Iowa is 1st in these 3 stats).

HHS does not do a conference games only adjusted offensive efficiency rating (HHS Offensive Rating), but it does for all games. Minnesota’s HHS Offensive Rating places Minnesota 11th in the Big Ten (all games). Similarly, the HHS Defensive Rating places Minnesota 12th in the Big Ten (all games).

I’m on team optimism regarding the three true Freshman (and Hart and Holloway), but being a top-half-of-the-conference team, on offense or defense, remains in their future.

 

[Bfan]

With all respect, the premise to the question is wrong because Minnesota is not really # 4 in the league on offense. Points per game, which is dependent on pace of play, is a terrible way to judge offense, or defense. Modern stats show that Minnesota is not anywhere near the top half of the Big Ten on offense (or defense), in conference play or all games.

According to Her Hoop Stats (HHS), in Big Ten play, Minnesota is 11th (tie) in points per scoring attempt (shot or FT trip), 11th in points scored per play (play finished with shot, FT trip or turnover), and 13th in effective FG% (Iowa is 1st in these 3 stats).

HHS does not do a conference games only adjusted offensive efficiency rating (HHS Offensive Rating), but it does for all games. Minnesota’s HHS Offensive Rating places Minnesota 11th in the Big Ten (all games). Similarly, the HHS Defensive Rating places Minnesota 12th in the Big Ten (all games).

I’m on team optimism regarding the three true Freshman (and Hart and Holloway), but being a top-half-of-the-conference team, on offense or defense, remains in their future.

Thanks for that!

 

[Bfan]

I think there are other factors contributing to the poor defense. The depth on the team is not strong. We have players playing 30-35 minutes and they don't have the stamina to play 100% on both offense and defense--so they recover during defense and use their energy on offense. I have frequently seen some of our fastest players get beat badly and it could be due to fatigue. There also is a significant drop off when the reserves play, which means the starters don't get enough rest and the reserves give up points.

Lots of good points in your post. I will single this one out as most intriguing to me.

 

[Bfan]

I also mentioned the decline in Scalia and Powell's stats and performance after leaving Minnesota. I know Powell lost the starting job and I see Scalia did not start a recent game after the coach mentioned getting Scalia back on track. That's a praise for Gophers coaching. An easy reaction is to blame coaches when things are slumping but how do we know.

- Indiana University Athletics

Indiana University Athletics

iuhoosiers.com

 

[walleye]

I also mentioned the decline in Scalia and Powell's stats and performance after leaving Minnesota. I know Powell lost the starting job and I see Scalia did not start a recent game after the coach mentioned getting Scalia back on track. That's a praise for Gophers coaching. An easy reaction is to blame coaches when things are slumping but how do we know.

- Indiana University Athletics

Indiana University Athletics

iuhoosiers.com

Good points on slumps. Braun is in a slump. Sometimes, players lose their confidence. It is hard for coaches to inject confidence or find the root cause. Coaches basically can be encouraging and let the player shoot their way out of the slump, or they can bench the player until the player figures it out. Different players will react positively or negatively to either tactic. On the other hand, Braun may be overloaded in the things that she is supposed to focus on and has lost her shooter's focus. I hope Braun figures it out soon.