***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA AT wisconsin IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

[Gophers7633]

Props on the hustle and effort tonight, just some poor execution and too many TO's. Sucks because this was a winnable game. Oh well, at least Wisconsin's metrics are going to tank.

 

[Cayman]

If Payne had any endurance, we probably wouldn't lose. Kid gets gassed quick, plays so damn hard and is clearly our best player down low.

Wahl and Crowl, probably Wahl moreso, seem to put their bodies into the defender really hard when posting up on offense, and I loved seeing Payne stand his ground and not give up space.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

This loss will be spun as a gritty hard played loss where this team showed signs of developing. However it was a continuation of poorly played basketball - turnovers and just continuous poor offensive possessions are not showing improvements. Sconnies poor play tonight let the Gophers hang around. I am still on the highly frustrated band wagon and don’t see a way out of this programs tailspin

We played sloppy but it was played much better than some of our recent games.

I think a big part of our improved play was playing people at better positions. We saw Garcia and Battle at the 4/5 and that's way better than them at the 3/4.

We are going to turn the ball over a lot in close games. We don't have any wings. I think Olo-Joseph is more of a junk yard dog type 4 and Henley and Cooper are young.

The loss sucked and moral victories sucked but they played a lot more like they played last year than most of this year.

 

[Ope3]

Shucks. A very entertaining basketball contest.

 

[Panthadad2]

The difference in movement on offense between Wisconsin and Minnesota is incredible. We always looked poorly spaced. Half of our shots are forced.

I have a lot of trouble watching this team for more than a few minutes. There is no offensive flow. It puts me in a bad mood. I literally turned the channel 8 minutes in the game, finished a Netflix movie, then came back for the remainder. They are young so I hope it gets better.

 

[Johnnyboy18]

Ben doesn't look too happy with the moral victory

 

[Unregistered User]

They didn't. They turned it over and gave the Gophers the same shot clock

Shot clock was at 21 seconds when they whistled the ball dead after the jump ball call. The shot clock was correctly reset to 20 in that scenario. We scored with about 10 seconds remaining on the shit clock.

 

[Gophs24]

Much better effort all around.
Out rebounded them which is great.
Henley much more active tonight.
Payne easily could have had 3 more baskets if the guys found him as he had great positioning on a handful of plays with no results

Battle saved himself with back to back threes as he was pretty bad all night
The end of the first half and start of the 2nd half killed them.
Cooper/Battle/Garcia…our three leaders and experienced players had 15 turnovers?!?
Still just seems to be lack of offensive sets from them to get guys open shots

 

[Gophs24]

Shot clock was at 21 seconds when they whistled the ball dead after the jump ball call. The shot clock was correctly reset to 20 in that scenario. We scored with about 10 seconds remaining on the shit clock.

Watch your mouth!

 

[topos]

A Badger friend texted me, "You guys win that game if Battle knows his limits."

Battle has looked like this in pretty much every game thus far since coming back from the injury. It's like he's playing basketball on an ice rink with his hands doused in oil.

Happy to see Henley play well. He's been on a tough stretch. It seemed like he figured out that hustling and bringing energy are more important than scoring.

Overall, the freshmen nucleus was solid in this game. They brought a ton of energy overall and did some really good things.

It was the veterans that let us down. Battle and Coopers' play, specifically 12 turnovers combined, is unacceptable. No player should get away with Battle's shot selection without consequence (aka a benching).

I expect to beat Nebraska on Saturday.

 

[Johnnyboy18]

We played sloppy but it was played much better than some of our recent games.

I think a big part of our improved play was playing people at better positions. We saw Garcia and Battle at the 4/5 and that's way better than them at the 3/4.

We are going to turn the ball over a lot in close games. We don't have any wings. I think Olo-Joseph is more of a junk yard dog type 4 and Henley and Cooper are young.

The loss sucked and moral victories sucked but they played a lot more like they played last year than most of this year.

When did that happen? They started the same lineup they always do (the worst lineup for the game) and played both of them with Payne for large stretches (their best lineup for the game).

 

[golfing18now]

The race for Ola-Joseph's first assist or Pitino's first loss is still alive. Ola-Joseph held serve with another goose egg. Your move Pitino.

 

[bga1]

A Badger friend texted me, "You guys win that game if Battle knows his limits."

Battle has looked like this in pretty much every game thus far since coming back from the injury. It's like he's playing basketball on an ice rink with his hands doused in oil.

Happy to see Henley play well. He's been on a tough stretch. It seemed like he figured out that hustling and bringing energy are more important than scoring.

Overall, the freshmen nucleus was solid in this game. They brought a ton of energy overall and did some really good things.

It was the veterans that let us down. Battle and Coopers' play, specifically 12 turnovers combined, is unacceptable. No player should get away with Battle's shot selection without consequence (aka a benching).

I expect to beat Nebraska on Saturday.

When Battle dribbles, bad things happen.

 

[dannygopher9100]

Shot clock was at 21 seconds when they whistled the ball dead after the jump ball call. The shot clock was correctly reset to 20 in that scenario. We scored with about 10 seconds remaining on the shit clock.

That is why I’m not a ref. Thank you! Learned something new today.

 

[bga1]

The race for Ola-Joseph's first assist or Pitino's first loss is still alive. Ola-Joseph held serve with another goose egg. Your move Pitino.

They are playing Fresno right now. Fun game.

 

[60's Guy]

Wisconsin's style allows teams to stay close. Remember, Gard said they lost their best defender early in Wahl. Btw, he's also their leading scorer. In addition, Crowl sat 5-6 minutes with two fouls. I think we knew it would be close but with Wahl going down pretty big advantage to us. Did we then attack the post? "Tyler going down didn't effect our game plan at all"

Klesmet is a shut down defender. Who is ours?

Garcia and Battle had 27 points on 28 shots and 12 turnovers.

The freshmen are looking more comfortable. Ola Joseph is still probably our best freshman.
Payne had a nice game with 8 points and 3 rebounds.
Henley showed his potential on the defensive end.
Carrington pretty much anonymous after hitting a 3 early.
17 points out of those 4 guys has to improve.

We can argue this one or Saturday are our two best chances to win.
For us to win somebody needs to go out of their mind scoring.

Which players would you rather have...ours or Wisconsin's? For me, hands down ours.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Clear foul at the end there

FFS, he wouldn't have been poking at the ball if a foul weren't one of their desired outcomes.

Maybe Gopher fans aren't any better at tactics than their team is.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

When did that happen? They started the same lineup they always do (the worst lineup for the game) and played both of them with Payne for large stretches (their best lineup for the game).

When did they do what? You just described scenarios where they did both of the lineups that I'm talking about.

The starting lineup is Garcia and Battle at the 5/4 and when Payne enters they move to the 4/3.

Yeah, the starting lineup stinks and Payne is our best player. I think our starting lineups struggles might have something to do with our wings - a SF who hasn't had an assist all year and a SG who should really be a backup MAC PG.

 

[Bad Gopher]

This loss will be spun as a gritty hard played loss where this team showed signs of developing. However it was a continuation of poorly played basketball - turnovers and just continuous poor offensive possessions are not showing improvements. Sconnies poor play tonight let the Gophers hang around. I am still on the highly frustrated band wagon and don’t see a way out of this programs tailspin

Stole my post. It's tempting to be encouraged, but... I can only speak for myself, but I feel mainly discouragement. This sloppy, unrefined ball won't beat many league opponents, if any, no matter how good or bad they are. Unfortunately, this seems to be this team's identity.

Like I said off the top, this Badger team is overrated. This isn't the magnitude of moral victory one might think it is.

 

[Dunceswithwolves]

I might be crazy but I swear they never reset the shot clock after the jump ball with 38 seconds left. I’m trying to find a replay but I can’t. I also could be totally wrong. It is a shame this team couldn’t pull this game off. Almost an exact replica of the game last year in Madison.

I wondered that too. If we are talking about the same ply, MN dribbled to the left side and the shot clock was down to 16. Like they set it to 20 instead of 30.

 

[march madness]

Can anyone explain to me why our 6-7 230lb player is trying for step back shots against a 6-3 200lb player? How is battle not posting him up? Wisc will post up a pg if the matchup dictates it?

 

[Johnnyboy18]

When did they do what? You just described scenarios where they did both of the lineups that I'm talking about.

The starting lineup is Garcia and Battle at the 5/4 and when Payne enters they move to the 4/3.

Yeah, the starting lineup stinks and Payne is our best player. I think our starting lineups struggles might have something to do with our wings - a SF who hasn't had an assist all year and a SG who should really be a backup MAC PG.

Battle is 100% playing the 3 in the starting lineup and for every minute he's in the game. It's why he's turning the ball over so much IMO

 

[Johnnyboy18]

Can anyone explain to me why our 6-7 230lb player is trying for step back shots against a 6-3 200lb player? How is battle not posting him up? Wisc will post up a pg if the matchup dictates it?

Battle might be 200 pounds soaking wet. There's 0% chance he's 230

 

[MennoSota]

Didn't get to watch. Looked at the stats. 20 turnovers, ouch. 40 rebounds, wow!
When these kids put together a complete game, they will see W's in the column. Low turnovers and many rebounds gets us the win. We got one, but not both.
How are the Chicken Littles doing tonight?

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Stole my post. It's tempting to be encouraged, but... I can only speak for myself, but I feel mainly discouragement. This sloppy, unrefined ball won't beat many league opponents, if any, no matter how good or bad they are. Unfortunately, this seems to be this team's identity.

Like I said off the top, this Badger team is overrated. This isn't the magnitude of moral victory one might think it is.

Nice moral victory but wisconsin lost a key player early and the gophers still lost. Discouraging and frustrating. Really ugly basketball.

 

[bga1]

The best shot that they have to win is go with Cooper, Carrington, Payne, Battle and Garcia. I would have no problem with putting Ola Joseph in for Garcia as an alternative.

 

[PhiloVance]

Rumor has it Thompson didn't board the bus for the ride back to Mpls.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Rumor has it Thompson didn't board the bus for the ride back to Mpls.

Is he walking on at Wisconsin? I swear, they'll find something he's good at, and he'd dagger the Gophers at Williams.

 

[Outsider]

Much better effort all around.
Out rebounded them which is great.
Henley much more active tonight.
Payne easily could have had 3 more baskets if the guys found him as he had great positioning on a handful of plays with no results

Battle saved himself with back to back threes as he was pretty bad all night
The end of the first half and start of the 2nd half killed them.
Cooper/Battle/Garcia…our three leaders and experienced players had 15 turnovers?!?
Still just seems to be lack of offensive sets from them to get guys open shots

The offense would look better if they would get the ball into Payne when he sits down on the low blocks. They missed him in there at least four times that I saw. If they would just use that the outside game would come for others. It’s like they are afraid to throw it in there from the wing, when that is actually the best place to make the entry from. That is my biggest frustration as they pass up easy hoops for contested triples. Well that and the turnovers drive me nuts.

 

[60's Guy]

Rumor has it Thompson didn't board the bus for the ride back to Mpls.

Thompson is used to no defined role. He starts, he plays 20 minutes, he plays 3 minutes and he doesn't get off the bench....it's just how he is used.
We do it because of "matchups". His defiency is defense, Wisconsin plays 3 guys you don't have to guard. We went forever without scoring. You can't just put him in cold in the second half. He has no role. Game plan was obviously not to play him. He has more trouble in uptempo games with athletic, quick opponents. Not why we lost but he possesses value we don't ever use.