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

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A few of my biggest gripes were addressed last night:
  1. Christie started (Yay! I'll take 1/2)
  2. Payne started the 2nd half (YAY, 2/2, and he opened up the half with our first 4 points)
  3. Carrington - MVP last night - proved his Defensive prowess and did some good things on offense
  4. Active JOJ - Absolute beast in the 2nd half - Needs to continue to be the energy guy
  5. Outcoached the other team - 52-26 in the 2nd half - Heck of an adjustment CBJ, without our best player, nonetheless
There's a lot to build on here. I hope they rest Garcia for the next few, and we can continue to build some confidence for other players in the remaining non-conference games.
 

DarthGopher said:
Maybe it was the phenomenon of "burning the boats". We aren't getting back across the river, so we can either fight like hell or perish.

Big dawg goes down. Decide at halftime if they are going to man up or sulk and piss down their legs.

They came out with their big boy pants on and made Nebraska their bitch for the next 20 minutes.

This team has talent. Hopefully they learned how a suffocating defense can open up the offense. They have depth for a change. Roll two lines. Pressure breaks the pipes!
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This x 1000
 

Rex said:
Free throws...Hawkins went 6-10. He hit his first 17 free throws of the season, he's been 13-22 (59%) since. 8-14 (57%) in conference games
24 points off turnovers, Neb with 21.
Payne played the most minutes of any player...both teams... 35:19 minutes
If you're a +/- stat guy. All of the Gophers that played were positive... except for Ihnen @ -11
Home cooking??: we were called for 9 fouls + a technical...Neb. had 21 We shot 14 more free throws... We probably don't win if played in Lincoln.

gophersports.com

MN.NEB 12.06.23 box - University of Minnesota Athletics

MN.NEB 12.06.23 box
gophersports.com gophersports.com
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I’m not sure I saw any home cooking. I thought both teams were not very aggressive on defense early limiting fouls both ways. When Nebraska got down they needed to be more aggressive and fouled more.

Point guard needs to be better at the foul line. And he can be.
 

leib0039 said:
I've been told in other posts sometimes its not the coaches fault the players just play bad, maybe the opposite happened last night. 😁

Kidding aside, great game by CBJ and crew, they clearly had something click. The team from the 2nd half of the Mizzou and the first half of Nebraska goes winless in the big ten. The inverse of that team is a middle of the pack conference team who could get into the tournament. The likelihood is that they are somewhere in the middle of that meaning 5-7 conf wins.

I stand by my belief Johnson is not at all the right guy, but that 2nd half certainly gives me reasons to say I am wrong about that take.
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If this team can find some consistency and avoid those stretches where they get really sloppy with the basketball we might have something here. Middle of the pack in the conference feels possible when this team plays under control as they have some solid pieces.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Gotta say, reading this entire game thread in the light of day is highly amusing.

Super fun game last night, what a comeback, crowd really got into it in the 2nd half.

Sit Dawson until the Michigan game, if necessary. Need him 100% before the meat of B1G play, and we SHOULD (hopefully) be able to handle the last 4 cupcake games without him.

Let's build on this!!
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The crowd did get into it in the second half, those that were there anyway.. Size of the crowd was a little disappointing to me. Thought there would be more there for a big ten home opener. Hopefully get some more wins and we will see more fans at the game. It was a fun game to watch.
 


Holy Man said:
I’m not sure I saw any home cooking. I thought both teams were not very aggressive on defense early limiting fouls both ways. When Nebraska got down they needed to be more aggressive and fouled more.

Point guard needs to be better at the foul line. And he can be.
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In the second half, Nebraska was just playing hero ball with pull up jumpers. We were moving around much better and playing faster, we were going to draw more fouls.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
Gotta say, reading this entire game thread in the light of day is highly amusing.

Super fun game last night, what a comeback, crowd really got into it in the 2nd half.

Sit Dawson until the Michigan game, if necessary. Need him 100% before the meat of B1G play, and we SHOULD (hopefully) be able to handle the last 4 cupcake games without him.

Let's build on this!!
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I have not gone back and looked at the first half in game thread but guessing it was brutal. I stay far away from the in game threads when the football or basketball team is struggling because they become so toxic. :)
 

jblass said:
The crowd did get into it in the second half, those that were there anyway.. Size of the crowd was a little disappointing to me. Thought there would be more there for a big ten home opener. Hopefully get some more wins and we will see more fans at the game. It was a fun game to watch.
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Going to take some wins to draw people back in but this team is a lot of fun to watch when they are playing well. Hopefully they can find some sustained success and draw people back into the barn.
 

That was a fun game to watch. For the first time, Johnson has the power that depth gives a coach. He benches Ola-Joseph in the 2nd half and then he comes out on fire. I was also sad to see our hardest working and best player Garcia go down but to see the others rally....Depth will enable Johnson to demand hard work on defense in exchange for playing time. Depth fixes everything...including an ankle injury to your star. Now they all know what they are capable of...the bar has been raised.
 



MNVCGUY said:
I have not gone back and looked at the first half in game thread but guessing it was brutal. I stay far away from the in game threads when the football or basketball team is struggling because they become so toxic. :)
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It's hilarious, I was thinking the same thing sitting in the stands last night during the first half...but sometimes it's better to let things play out before publicly airing out your irrational emotional in game thoughts
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
In the second half, Nebraska was just playing hero ball with pull up jumpers. We were moving around much better and playing faster, we were going to draw more fouls.
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Think the Gopher defense had something to do with Nebraska playing like that. Particularly at the start of the 2nd half. Probably the most ‘intense’ defense I can recall under Johnson.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Think the Gopher defense had something to do with Nebraska playing like. Particularly at the start of the 2nd half. Probably the most ‘intense’ defense I can recall under Johnson.
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Absolutely. We also had Carrington completely take out their best offensive weapon. Carrington turned it into a 4 on 4 matchup and Nebraska didn't know how to run their offense. Our bigs were also way more physical and athletic than theirs.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Absolutely. We also had Carrington completely take out their best offensive weapon. Carrington turned it into a 4 on 4 matchup and Nebraska didn't know how to run their offense. Our bigs were also way more physical and athletic than theirs.
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Carrington really did do a fantastic job last night. Amazing. And drew 6 fouls. Gets him to the line, where he can pick up some points.
 
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Hawkins can be frustrating at times, but man we are way more dynamic offensively when he is in the game. Ihnen... ouch. Really hope he figures things out by January. We are going to need production from him down the stretch. Wouldn't mind resting Garcia the next 3 if needed, then bringing him back for the game against Maine for a tune up prior to conference play. Role players played their roles last night. Always fun after a win, Go Gophers!
 

MNVCGUY said:
I have not gone back and looked at the first half in game thread but guessing it was brutal. I stay far away from the in game threads when the football or basketball team is struggling because they become so toxic. :)
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Towards the end of the 1st half (during Neb 16-2 run), I thought it was possible that the Gophers were not going to reach 50 pts for the whole game, and then they score 52 in the 2nd half.
 


Zeppelin Gopher said:
It's hilarious, I was thinking the same thing sitting in the stands last night during the first half...but sometimes it's better to let things play out before publicly airing out your irrational emotional in game thoughts
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There's an entire thread for irrational emotional thoughts.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Carrington really did do a fantastic job last night. Amazing. And drew 6 fouls. Gets him to the line, where he can pick up some points.
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Carrington's offensive game is still not there yet but he has really upped his game on defense and is one of the better rebounders on the team due to the effort he plays with going after loose balls.

He was absolutely key last night locking down a player for Nebraska that is capable of scoring a lot of points when he gets going.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
Carrington really did do a fantastic job last night. Amazing. And drew 6 fouls. Gets him to the line, where he can pick up some points.
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Yep, he's strong enough now where he needs to go to the rim and draw contact. He is most effective offensively when he is doing that. He just isn't always able to pick the right spots to do that. Definitely had it turned on last night.
 


Rex said:
Towards the end of the 1st half (during Neb 16-2 run), I thought it was possible that the Gophers were not going to reach 50 pts for the whole game, and then they score 52 in the 2nd half.
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Yeah, think a lot of the first half struggles came from figuring out how to function without Garcia on the court....but once they figured it out they were unstoppable last night.

Hopefully they can build on this game and play that well going forward.
 


CPTMidnight said:
If I have this correct we scored 46 points in the second half vs Ohio State and 52 now vs. Nebraska. Both games we were a much better team in the second half.

I am not exactly sure what it means yet but one thing is for sure - they have the potential to be a much better team than last year.
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The biggest issue under Johnson seems to be the really bad stretches. Every team has bad stretches, but the Gophers the past few years take it to another level. This year's team has shown they can dominate in stretches. They just have to find a way to not be dominated so much at other times. Turn those stretches where they get outscored 16-2 into 16-10 or something like that.
 

GopherBlood777 said:
Yep, he's strong enough now where he needs to go to the rim and draw contact. He is most effective offensively when he is doing that. He just isn't always able to pick the right spots to do that. Definitely had it turned on last night.
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Good point about being stronger. He has had success this year “going downhill” on some drives.
 

Gopherbbdude said:
This didn't age well
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Hawkins can be frustrating as heck to watch when he plays out of control or has a bad turnover. But he is also a ton of fun to watch when he gets locked in like he did in the second half last night.

He is crazy quick, which is not something we have had a lot of in recent years.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, think a lot of the first half struggles came from figuring out how to function without Garcia on the court....but once they figured it out they were unstoppable last night.

Hopefully they can build on this game and play that well going forward.
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It was actually very weird. Garcia goes out at around 17:30 left? It was a two point game at the 7:59 mark when the game finally went live on BTN. They were fine and played reasonably well for around 10+ mins, then completely spiraled the final 6 or 7.
 

GophersInIowa said:
The biggest issue under Johnson seems to be the really bad stretches. Every team has bad stretches, but the Gophers the past few years take it to another level. This year's team has shown they can dominate in stretches. They just have to find a way to not be dominated so much at other times. Turn those stretches where they get outscored 16-2 into 16-10 or something like that.
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Turnovers are the key....when they don't turn the ball over they look great....when they do.....yeah not so much.
 

GopherBlood777 said:
It was actually very weird. Garcia goes out at around 17:30 left? It was a two point game at the 7:59 mark when the game finally went live on BTN. They were fine and played reasonably well for around 10+ mins, then completely spiraled the final 6 or 7.
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Has been a common theme so far this year where they have stretches where things just fall apart completely (usually in large part due to turnovers). Hopefully as the team learns to play together those stretches become less and less frequent.

You essentially have 4 guys that have played together a fair amount in Garcia, Payne, Carrington, and JOJ and then a bunch of other guys that are getting their first playing time with this group so it is going to take time to gel. The exciting part is that when this team is on they are capable of looking really really good.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah, think a lot of the first half struggles came from figuring out how to function without Garcia on the court....but once they figured it out they were unstoppable last night.

Hopefully they can build on this game and play that well going forward.
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The first half looked like the other games against decent teams.
The 2nd half they played defense in a way we haven’t seen from this team. That made them the aggressor and they played up tempo on offense
 


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