***OFFICIAL GOPHERS VS RUTGERS GAME THREAD!!!!!!!!***

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station19 said:
Gophers 3-18(?) from 3 pt...........if you exclude Andre Hollins. Nice to see him have a good day.

Mo......16 and 8 in 19 mins.............................or something like that I saw on the radio
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What kind of radio do you have?
 


I'm glad we got the monkey off our back with this win, but it is a bit disconcerting to see the large disparity in turnovers (we valued possessions today) and yet only be ahead by less than ten points coming down the stretch. We should have buried this Rutgers team with how sloppy they were and yet we kept allowing them to stay close.
Nice to get the win, but we have yet to put together a dominant performance in the B1G.
 


Amazing stuff in this thread: One guy saw the game on radio and another guy accuses a guy of having a poorly written bog which he then admits he has never seen.... Oh well. We got a win! We did not play real well and I would say if the opponent were not Rutgers we'd be 0-6 right now. The defense is beyond bad as is the rebounding. I saw one really good defensive possession today and it was when the crowd got all excited because Dre hit a three to put us up double digits. All of the sudden the guys played hard on defense and it looked a lot better.

Konate is going to be a great center on the offensive end. He has a long , long way to go on the defensive end and in rebounding the ball. Lot of potential there. Sounds like Pitino had planned to play the mysterious Gas but he got a little injury and was a bit hobbled. Coach says Gas is starting to get it. It was obvious today that Pitino is already beginning to prep a little for next year going with Konate for 17 minutes.
 


tinyarch said:
I'm glad we got the monkey off our back with this win, but it is a bit disconcerting to see the large disparity in turnovers (we valued possessions today) and yet only be ahead by less than ten points coming down the stretch. We should have buried this Rutgers team with how sloppy they were and yet we kept allowing them to stay close.
Nice to get the win, but we have yet to put together a dominant performance in the B1G.
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Yes - part of the rebounding disparity could have been addressed with EE, but Pitino went with Konate for 17 mins and just 1 DR. (Obviously EE is capable of having a similar game, but... that would have been my guy in there instead of Konate for some of the minutes.)

Gophers shot better, but Rutgers wasn't that far behind and had a good shooting game (especially for them, but really for any team) and overall a strong ppp of 1.09. That was thanks to an OR% of 44% to go along with the good shooting of 54.2%.
 


Gopher Warrior said:
Yes - part of the rebounding disparity could have been addressed with EE, but Pitino went with Konate for 17 mins and just 1 DR. (Obviously EE is capable of having a similar game, but... that would have been my guy in there instead of Konate for some of the minutes.)

Gophers shot better, but Rutgers wasn't that far behind and had a good shooting game (especially for them, but really for any team) and overall a strong ppp of 1.09. That was thanks to an OR% of 44% to go along with the good shooting of 54.2%.
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I thought Elliot was better than Bakary in the first half because at least he knew how to position himself to stop drives and set screens whereas Bakary didn't seem to know what to do with himself. Bakary was much better with his positioning in the second half (showing at least the ability to learn quickly), got a nice assist, and hit an outside shot. Under the circumstances, I'm glad he got all of the second half substitute minutes.
 

Dr.Don said:
Stocker, your sarcasm detection meter is obviously not working. :horse::horse::horse:
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There has to be a presence of sarcasm for it to work. You've been gone for too long to realize that GW is serious.
 



Gopher Warrior said:
Needed it. Nice win. Liked the low turnover rate for the team and Dre's shooting.

Gophers FT% "only" 64.7%, Rutgers 80.0%?.. plus Rutgers got to the line more than Minnesota? How in the world did the Gophers pull it off?!?!?! :rolleyes:
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You've clearly never played or coached basketball if you don't think free throws are important. It can be the difference in close games, paired with other factors.
 

Didn't catch all of the game but obviously Andre looked really good and it was nice to see Konate get some good minutes. I think Pitino should consider starting Mathieu, Mason, Hollins with a smaller lineup, they're our best players imo.

Hopefully we can string a few wins in a row now!
 


mcal24 said:
Didn't catch all of the game but obviously Andre looked really good and it was nice to see Konate get some good minutes. I think Pitino should consider starting Mathieu, Mason, Hollins with a smaller lineup, they're our best players imo.

Hopefully we can string a few wins in a row now!
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Need Morris out there. He needs to get better and play smarter but he is our best athlete and a guy who can make plays.
 



Just watched the game. This was either the Gophers second or third worst performance of the conference season (Iowa worst game of the year, maybe Maryland was as bad as this one), so hopefully getting the win will get this team out of its funk. The defense was poor again today, especially on the interior. Offensively, I think the Gophers were a little bit unlucky to not score even more. Lots of wide open looks from 3 that were missed by everybody not named Andre Hollins.

Great shooting game from Andre. Really happy for him having a great shooting game, just wish it would have come against a better opponent when we needed it. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come...I thought getting that dunk (!) was huge for his confidence.

Continue to be very impressed with Nate Mason. I watched him closely because I am much more interested in the guys who will come back next year and he's quicker and more athletic than I perceived. The way he broke the press with the dribble late in the game was impressive and he had a couple very nice drives and dishes earlier in the game. If Nate can keep up this level of play, Dorsey can come in and play the role Mathieu is now instead of being forced to start.

I didn't see much encouraging from Bakary today. He had a nice 12 foot jumper and a nice pass to King for a 12 foot jumper, but other than those plays it seemed like a rough game. Bakary just doesn't get off the floor going for rebounds and seemed late to react defensively in a number of situations. Another poster made a great point about Bakary a few weeks ago that he may be thinking too much trying to avoid fouls which causes him to react so late. Regardless, Bakary has to get a lot stronger in the lower body this offseason.

Loved Carlos Morris in transition today, but he had a rough game with his shot selection (and shooting %) in the half court. Overall I think he's a guy you can win with as a starter as long as he's not your best or second best guy. It's encouraging to me that Pitino has hit on Mathieu, Mason, and Morris as guys who clearly (IMHO) can help a good team. It would be nice if we could say the same thing about a big man. Hopefully next year we will be able to say that about one or two (development of Konate, Diedhiou, Nwankwo, and/or additional recruits).

I know their are some Buggs fans on the board, but I watched a lot of him today too and he just doesn't appear to understand all the little things that go in to being a successful player at this level. He's unsure of his responsibilities on defense, he tends to "relax" (don't want to say he's lazy because I am not sure that's it) when he's away from the ball on both ends of the court which leads to his man getting rebounds or being able to help on defense without worrying about Buggs. For lack of a better description, it's like Buggs is playing pick up ball out there while everyone else is playing structured basketball.

Mo and Joey refuse to box out. I thought Joey did some good things today (he usually does pretty well against clearly inferior opponents), but both him and Mo just turn abound and look at the basket when a shot goes up instead of dropping their base and putting a body on someone. It was very apparent today on a late possession where a guy drove passed one of our guards and missed a layup, Joey/Mo both turn around and look and a Rutgers guy comes flying past both of them to tip slam the rebound. Some of this has to be on Pitino and his staff as rebounding has been an issue the entire year. Part of it is physical (lack of athletic ability), but the parts that are technical or work ethic related should be cleaned up by now.

One other positive for me today was how well Mathieu and Eliason responded to being benched. Mathieu seems to be playing just as hard despite being benched and Eliason was clearly engaged in the game and not pouting on the bench. Very impressive from a couple of Seniors and this speaks well of Pitino and his staff as well.
 

Just finished watching it also EG#9. Agree, really happy for Andre. Wanted to say the same thing you did about DeAndre and EE, Eliason in particular. His minutes given to the freshman, but he still urged everyone on, first off the bench to pat guys on the back, etc. Morris went to the bench at about 6:30 left in the game and never did return. Coach doesn't trust him yet to close these games. That stretch in the first half right after Mo Walker went to the bench and Rutgers came back to tie it was some horrendous defense.
Good to get a win and maybe they can go into Lincoln and sneak one out.
I like your posts after games. Thanks for doing it.
 

Nice to get the monkey off our back. B1G wins have been tough enough for us to come by, I'm not going to worry about how it happened. Looking ahead, we have a schedule that certainly makes it possible (not likely) to get back to 5-5. Considering the first part of our schedule, I think most of us would have considered a 5-5 start disappointing but not catastrophic, so if we get back there, I think we are in ok shape, but obviously we have work to do.
 

Listened on the radio and haven't watched it, but the feeling I got is that the Gophers simply outscored Rutgers. You can do that when your shooting guard goes for 30+; problem is, he's done that only twice in his career. What I'm really trying to say is that defense and rebounding continue to be a problem.
 

Forgive the cliché, but starting 0-5 is like a knockdown in the early rounds of a fight. Okay, so Gophers got off of the deck and won at home over a second division team.

Now we will find out if this team is capable of resilience. Can we go on the road against a NE team we should have beaten last year and build on the first victory? We have stop Petteway and Shields, a two man gang. Who matches up with Petteway? No one did last year. That's why I'm not optimistic. I'd honestly have to say less than 50/50.

Nevertheless Go Gophers, show us what you have!
 

mcal24 said:
Didn't catch all of the game but obviously Andre looked really good and it was nice to see Konate get some good minutes. I think Pitino should consider starting Mathieu, Mason, Hollins with a smaller lineup, they're our best players imo.

Hopefully we can string a few wins in a row now!
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Best three players? Maybe on a single night.....but Big Mo, Morris, and yes.....even Joey King have proven to be extremely important players in multiple games. This team doesn't seem to have a number one.....most important player like others have. Different players make the difference in certain games. I'm holding out hope that Hollins will find his groove and give us multiple showings like he did yesterday.
 

Rebounding is just terrible, time and time again through out the season they have gotten key stops only to have the opposition get an offensive rebound and a put back. No boxing out and not athletic enough to go up and grab rebounds away from anyone. I doubt this is going to change and it really costs them in close games
 

stocker08 said:
Best three players? Maybe on a single night.....but Big Mo, Morris, and yes.....even Joey King have proven to be extremely important players in multiple games. This team doesn't seem to have a number one.....most important player like others have. Different players make the difference in certain games. I'm holding out hope that Hollins will find his groove and give us multiple showings like he did yesterday.
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I would try out Mathieu, Mason, Hollins, King, Mo. It's not like Morris wouldn't get time, he would play as much as the starters I'm sure. I just would like to see that combo more. Morris is a good player but can be hard to watch when his shots aren't falling.
 

In an effort to improve our D and woeful defensive rebounding, I'd play EE at PF when on defense as much as possible when attempting to close out games. Then situationally substitute and get EE out of there when on O because of his poor free throwing.
 

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