*** OFFICIAL MINNESOTA-DUKE IN-GAME THREAD ***

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I' am not discouraged by the game either. It seemed the team played hard and for the most part played pretty well. Duke just shot lights out, nothing you can really do with that. I was disappointed with Austins play though, it seemed he played scared the whole game. He killed us both offensively and defensively.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
We are a more talented team 1-10, it's just their 1 and 2 were that much better than our 1 and 2.
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Can't agree with that. They were much better than us at every starting position. The biggest difference in the game was anyone on their team can score on his own and we have maybe two guys who can get their own shot. I actually think we didn't play too poorly, yet we got manhandled. Our inability to protect the ball will kill us against every good team we play, so the boys better get that figured out. This game will help our RPI, now we just need to follow it up with a win tomorrow.
 

Better luck tomorrow. The team shouldn't get down on themselves. Could it have been a 10 point game minus some turnovers? Sure. But we weren't winning that game even if we played perfect. Duke played out of their minds.

Beat Memphis/VCU and Stanford/NIU and then stick around to take care of Florida State.
 

SOS definitely gets a boost, but I fear only a win over Stanford (or UNI) doesn't impress much?

Agree that it's time to start our best 5 players. Still plenty of minutes available for EE.
 

I don't know what game some of you we're watching? I though we played fairly well, it is near impossible to beat a team that shots 80% 3pointers! Our defense was good and Rodney had a big game. Duke could not miss. I don't want to sound like a whiner, but some of those fouls were fairy tales, like that pull up falling back shot were there wasn't a Gopher within 2ft of the guy. We hung with them even with the ridiculous shoot by Duke until we decided to rain in some 3pointers that missed. Overall very good effort, not many teams are going to beat Duke when they shoot like that.
 


afurry91 said:
Annnnd the rest of our tournament is on AXS. Lame.
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Yep, this is the only game I'll be watching in the tourney. Can't afford to go to the bar to watch all three games. You'd think in this day and age, watching games on tv would be pretty easy. It was easier to watch games back in the day of MSC.

Overall, not a great game but sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the opposition (as much as I hate to do that to Duke). They would have beaten just about anyone with that shooting performance.
 

alchemy2u said:
I don't know what game some of you we're watching? I though we played fairly well, it is near impossible to beat a team that shots 80% 3pointers! Our defense was good and Rodney had a big game. Duke could not miss. I don't want to sound like a whiner, but some of those fouls were fairy tales, like that pull up falling back shot were there wasn't a Gopher within 2ft of the guy. We hung with them even with the ridiculous shoot by Duke until we decided to rain in some 3pointers that missed. Overall very good effort, not many teams are going to beat Duke when they shoot like that.
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I blame it all on Maverick. :horse:
 

alchemy2u said:
I don't know what game some of you we're watching? I though we played fairly well, it is near impossible to beat a team that shots 80% 3pointers! Our defense was good and Rodney had a big game. Duke could not miss. I don't want to sound like a whiner, but some of those fouls were fairy tales, like that pull up falling back shot were there wasn't a Gopher within 2ft of the guy. We hung with them even with the ridiculous shoot by Duke until we decided to rain in some 3pointers that missed. Overall very good effort, not many teams are going to beat Duke when they shoot like that.
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I don't think you can say our defense was good... We gave up 89 points. Even if they couldn't miss 3's, they got plenty of easy layups. Plus we shouldn't have allowed them to get so many open threes in the first place.
 

mcal24 said:
I don't think you can say our defense was good... We gave up 89 points. Even if they couldn't miss 3's, they got plenty of easy layups. Plus we shouldn't have allowed them to get so many open threes in the first place.
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There weren't that many open 3's. Duke could not miss. Everything they threw up went in. Tubby will tell the guys they needed to play better defense, but the reality is that they couldn't do much better.

Just want to make sure everyone saw my boy, Maverick with the huge game today. Julian who?
 



We'll beat Memphis if we play them. They're undisciplined, and Pastner is a tool. Memphis will run roughshod over weak Conference USA, so it'd still be a good win for Gophs.

VCU would be a tough matchup for Gophers with our turnover problems. Hoping VCU continues to thump 'em.
 

We'll beat Memphis if we play them. They're undisciplined, and Pastner is a tool. Memphis will run roughshod over weak Conference USA, so it'd still be a good win for Gophs.

VCU would be a tough matchup for Gophers with our turnover problems. Would expect a nail-biter. Hoping VCU continues to thump Memphis.
 

I am not too discouraged on how we played. I thought we did a decent job with Duke and they really just shot lights out. Unlike the past the 3 point shots we gave up were very tough shots and tightly contested and they still knocked them down. I thought Plumlee really took advantag of going up against Elliott and had a much tougher time when Mo and Trevor were in there. It sounds as if Curry is gonna be touch and go all season for Duke and if they are without him for a long period of time I could see them strugling a little bit, but I was impressed with the way the freshman Suliman played for them today as he looked much better than when I saw them against Kentucky. Kind of wishing we get Memphis tomorrow because I think is a better matchup for us as it is an easier style for us to play against and they are also a team that will probably be ranked the majority of the year with them still in C-USA, also impressed with VCU they look much better than when I watched them play against Witchita State earlier this season
 

Bad Gopher said:
I'm taking back all my Mav bashing. Perfect from the foul line. Competed hard. Played tough D against one of the best teams in the country. Now, about Welch...
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Um, I'm not sure you were watching the same game I was. Yes, he did a few nice things, but he continues to get torched by quicker guards. He could not stay with anyone he was guarding today.
 



Jibrahnike said:
Um, I'm not sure you were watching the same game I was. Yes, he did a few nice things, but he continues to get torched by quicker guards. He could not stay with anyone he was guarding today.
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He scored 10 points today, got a couple of and 1's, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 turnover, a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. We'd be in great shape if we could get that kind of performance out of Mav every game. At the very least, he played well on offense.

Not sure if anyone noticed, but of their 89 points, Duke's bench scored 2. They had a total of 44 bench minutes between 4 players, only 3 shots fired between them. Two of them totaled for 34 minutes and no points on 0-1 shooting. Tyler Thornton played 22 minutes and didn't shoot.

In this environment in particular, 3 basketball games in 3 days, riding their starters so hard and getting nothing from their bench could hurt them in their next two games, however, I feel like we did something similar in Puerto Rico two years ago, I seem to remember playing Nolen and Hoffarber for more than 35 minutes per game.
 

I watched a lot of the game, I don't see how fans think the Gophers played very well. Talent-wise, Duke should not have beaten the Gophers by 18 points. They played poor defense and gave up 89 points against a Duke team that wasn't all that talented as far as Duke teams go. College teams - even Duke teams - don't shoot 80% on 3-pointers when you guard them well. 15 turnovers is too many against a rather soft Duke defense. It was a game that I feel that the Gophers could have won if they were better prepared, but it's early in the season so I can understand why they had the problems they had.
 

Duke made nearly every shot they took whether we had a hand in their face or not. When a team hits a running NBA range three at the buzzer and an underhand scoop shot you know it's just their day. Gophers played solid but not great. If they played again it would be much closer.
 

I liked the way we hit the offensive boards - we hardly got a defenseive one because Duke couldnt miss.
 

OSUfan said:
I watched a lot of the game, I don't see how fans think the Gophers played very well. Talent-wise, Duke should not have beaten the Gophers by 18 points. They played poor defense and gave up 89 points against a Duke team that wasn't all that talented as far as Duke teams go. College teams - even Duke teams - don't shoot 80% on 3-pointers when you guard them well. 15 turnovers is too many against a rather soft Duke defense. It was a game that I feel that the Gophers could have won if they were better prepared, but it's early in the season so I can understand why they had the problems they had.
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80% from 3 pt. land.....many of them as the shot clock was running out with a defender close. They were simply a better team. They shot out of this world and plumlee played very well.
 

Sparlimb said:
Can't agree with that. They were much better than us at every starting position. The biggest difference in the game was anyone on their team can score on his own and we have maybe two guys who can get their own shot. I actually think we didn't play too poorly, yet we got manhandled. Our inability to protect the ball will kill us against every good team we play, so the boys better get that figured out. This game will help our RPI, now we just need to follow it up with a win tomorrow.
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You are right about today other than Rodney. They were better at the other four spots for sure. If trevor is healthy and back in playing form....then we would be closer in talent. Hard to beat anyone when they shoot that we'll.

Important thing will be to take what we can from this one and take a win from Memphis tomorrow.
 

Oto's play this season is driving me insane. He should be doing the little things. He keeps looking for his shot right away without any ball movement and he shoots while he isn't even open.
 

Focusing on the fact that Duke was 8/10, while some of the 8 they made should've been defended better, misses the larger point that most of the shots Duke took weren't from 3 and they shot 54% from the field. It wasn't that long ago that Tubby had teams in Minnesota that regularly held good teams to around 40% from the field.
 

OSUfan said:
I watched a lot of the game, I don't see how fans think the Gophers played very well. Talent-wise, Duke should not have beaten the Gophers by 18 points. They played poor defense and gave up 89 points against a Duke team that wasn't all that talented as far as Duke teams go. College teams - even Duke teams - don't shoot 80% on 3-pointers when you guard them well. 15 turnovers is too many against a rather soft Duke defense. It was a game that I feel that the Gophers could have won if they were better prepared, but it's early in the season so I can understand why they had the problems they had.
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I'm a big fan but not a delusional homer. I think your take is way off from what I saw with my own eyes. I thought Duke's defense was pretty good regardless of what your preconception might have been. If you would have told me that the Gophers would play a top 5 team, turn the ball over like they did, and the opponent would shoot as well as this, I would have said that sounds like an 18-point loss.
 

Let's wait and see who's better between Welch and Mav later in the yr. It would be nice if Welch got a little more time at pg so he could go around screens and hit the midrange jumpers.

afurry91 said:
Been saying it for two weeks. Was laughed at every time.
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The seniors were the problem? What game were you watching? They're the ones who played well.

Winasota Gopher said:
I'm actually ENCOURAGED from today's game.

We had a legitimate shot at winning this game. Difference between the two teams? SENIOR leadership. Our seniors were non factors and theirs were the stars they were supposed to be.

I can see the turnovers becoming less of an issue as Andre gets more mature and Mav and or Julian fight for the #2 role they will be forced to be careful with the ball. Our defense was extremely good in this game when it was close, it's just the Duke guards bailed them out time after time after time.

We are a more talented team 1-10, it's just their 1 and 2 were that much better than our 1 and 2.

Austin didn't show up, Trevor isn't all the way back yet, Mo could have been effective but he is just tooo slow and Tubby didn't have an answer for the high pick and roll while Mo was on the court, Plumlee just tooo quick.

I think we run the table in the losers bracket and head to FSU with some momentum and confidence. This is a GOOOOOD team, we are just playing very young right now with Trevor not being out there and Rodney not being a "typical senior" in that he doesn't bring calm in tough spots, he brings fire when its needed (except today)

VERY VERY frustrating game to watch, I didn't think we were done until the running underhanded shot at the buzzer with about 7 minutes to play. I think we can and would beat that Duke team 3 or 4 times out of 10. And we will be good in conference play, very good especially when Mo and Trevor (or if I should say) get back to full strength.
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afurry91 said:
There weren't that many open 3's. Duke could not miss. Everything they threw up went in. Tubby will tell the guys they needed to play better defense, but the reality is that they couldn't do much better.

Just want to make sure everyone saw my boy, Maverick with the huge game today. Julian who?
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You mean the guy that had 4 of the team's 15 assists? I thought Welch looked pretty solid running the point as well.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
We are a more talented team 1-10, it's just their 1 and 2 were that much better than our 1 and 2.

I think we can and would beat that Duke team 3 or 4 times out of 10.
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really? tough to agree with this...Especially the 1st part...Duke has much more talent than MN. I think CAN beat them 3 or 4 out of ten times maybe...but they have also beaten Kentucky and have players that were rated much higher than most of the MN players...How many gophers would be in the rotation at Duke? Williams, Trevor, and Andre?
 

Duke is a better defensive team than I think many of us thought. Plumlee was great to start the game and just ate ee up. And the 8/10 behind the arc was ridiculous. We didn't play very well and it seemed to me that every time we had a chance to cut the lead under 7 some whistle would blow and duke had an and 1 opportunity. Andre and Austin didn't play well and Rodney and mav were our only bright spots. Part of me is disappointed but another part of me wonders if this could help us from feeling special before big ten season? Time will tell, I still think this team will surprise many and be pretty special. Lets bounce back and best memphis
 

Duke guards got 54 points, 18/31 from the field, that is 58%, 7/8 from 3, you aren't going to beat anybody playing defense like that.
 

I was pretty impressed with the guy tonight. Good a national stage with one of the best teams in college basketball. Good for the program.
 

Had to DVR the game and just finished watching, it was tough staying off the grid for 8 hours. Really tough start to the game for the Gophers with a horrible turnover by 'Dre Hollins followed by two straight possessions of missed bunnies inside. The turnovers continued to be a problem throughout the first half and they didn't defend the 3 well at all in the first half. Maverick made a few nice plays and I would have been THRILLED to see the Gophers down just 4 at half given the way the game had went up to that point. Of course Duke hits a low percentage 3 (that could have been defended better) to go in up 7. Those early, tough 3's in the second half were back breakers, but they don't excuse losing by 18. Not to pick on Rodney, but I thought he had a couple of poor defensive efforts that hurt us one was failing to beat Kelly to a loose ball that ended up in a Duke 3 and the other on that Curry scoop shot...he can't let a guy that size split his double team. I thought Tubby went with too much Mav, too little Andre Hollins in the second half. Mav was allowing a lot of dribble penetration which hurt.

Something to watch going forward is whether the Gophers "D" is as good as advertised, because it wasn't today. The encouraging thing to me was that watching the game it didn't appear that the Gophers were outmatched and that this team is capable of beating Duke. The turnovers and half court offense (kind of go hand in hand) will have to be worked on as will the offensive boards. Need to beat Memphis tomorrow and come out of this thing 2-1.

*one other note: Trevor didn't look well physically in this game to me, he seemed more limited athletically against Duke than against Richmond where it seemed like he was turning a corner.
 

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