I can see Jack Wilson in the corner… “Mike’s a Killer!” Of course, we all know the result.
***OFFICIAL NEBRASKA AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!***
- Thread starter Stan
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13 versus North Florida.
Hawkins plays better defense, is faster and a better shooter. IW had a better handle and the edge on passing. For my money- I take Hawkins because he seems to want to win more than just pile up stats.
Bad Gopher
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Hawkins is tougher minded and more resilient.
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I would agree with your last sentence.
Did a re-watch of the 2nd half because I was curious about how it would look when I knew the outcome and could look more critically at things (and hey, it's the 3rd B1G win in our last 26 games or whatever).
I'll start with the positive and that was the defense. Carrington and Mitchell were very good staying with their guys on/off ball and then keeping their chest on them if they did drive to the basket (this was an issue in the Missouri game for example). I think Carrington has been mostly good on that end of the floor, but this was a big step up from Mitchell in terms of physicality. The other thing was the steals from Mitchell and Hawkins (combined for at least 3 in the 2nd half I believe) lead to points, a bigger lead, and got the crowd going.
Underrated key sequence: Tominaga had a 3 go in and out that would have put Nebraska back up by 13 and then Carrington comes back the other way and gets a bucket and a foul. All of a sudden the lead is down to 7.
The JOJ sequence of the 3, followed by the big O board, was as big as I remembered it being at the time. With how high he got for that ball, getting at least 2 O board's and put backs should be the minimum expectation from him. I haven't been a big JOJ fan at all (I am talking as a player) but I"ve always thought he could be useful if he embraces being an energy guy/defender.
I feel like the offense was a combination of good effort and good luck. There were a number of very poor shot attempts (Mitchell the biggest offender) that still ended up in Gopher points during that possession. Sometimes it was because of the hustle and effort to get an O board, but other times it was the ball bouncing off Nebraska's hands and the Gophers getting another opportunity. Towards the end of the game with the Gophers up 5, we mostly held the ball but Hawkins ends up making the deep 3 at the end of the shot clock.
Turnovers are going to continue to be a big issue for this team. Payne had a huge advantage over Mask in the post and I wanted the Gophers to feed him. The problem is Payne is absolutely terrible when the double comes and he needs to pass out of the post. Fox attempts some absolutely wild passes as well that are not fundamentally sound. Hawkins is always going to turn it over because of who he is as a player. JOJ is a turnover waiting to happen any time he tries to drive to the basket. I don't think this team is served well with a lot of freedom in half court sets. Give the guys freedom in transition, but some of the decisions in the half court should result in guys getting pulled like JOJ was for missing a rebound in this game.
I'll start with the positive and that was the defense. Carrington and Mitchell were very good staying with their guys on/off ball and then keeping their chest on them if they did drive to the basket (this was an issue in the Missouri game for example). I think Carrington has been mostly good on that end of the floor, but this was a big step up from Mitchell in terms of physicality. The other thing was the steals from Mitchell and Hawkins (combined for at least 3 in the 2nd half I believe) lead to points, a bigger lead, and got the crowd going.
Underrated key sequence: Tominaga had a 3 go in and out that would have put Nebraska back up by 13 and then Carrington comes back the other way and gets a bucket and a foul. All of a sudden the lead is down to 7.
The JOJ sequence of the 3, followed by the big O board, was as big as I remembered it being at the time. With how high he got for that ball, getting at least 2 O board's and put backs should be the minimum expectation from him. I haven't been a big JOJ fan at all (I am talking as a player) but I"ve always thought he could be useful if he embraces being an energy guy/defender.
I feel like the offense was a combination of good effort and good luck. There were a number of very poor shot attempts (Mitchell the biggest offender) that still ended up in Gopher points during that possession. Sometimes it was because of the hustle and effort to get an O board, but other times it was the ball bouncing off Nebraska's hands and the Gophers getting another opportunity. Towards the end of the game with the Gophers up 5, we mostly held the ball but Hawkins ends up making the deep 3 at the end of the shot clock.
Turnovers are going to continue to be a big issue for this team. Payne had a huge advantage over Mask in the post and I wanted the Gophers to feed him. The problem is Payne is absolutely terrible when the double comes and he needs to pass out of the post. Fox attempts some absolutely wild passes as well that are not fundamentally sound. Hawkins is always going to turn it over because of who he is as a player. JOJ is a turnover waiting to happen any time he tries to drive to the basket. I don't think this team is served well with a lot of freedom in half court sets. Give the guys freedom in transition, but some of the decisions in the half court should result in guys getting pulled like JOJ was for missing a rebound in this game.
Perhaps it was already mentioned in a previous post, but one thing that really impressed me was the balanced scoring by the Gophers. JOJ-15, Carrington-13, Hawkins-12, Christie-9, Payne-12, Mitchell-12. Five guys in double figures, almost 6. Would like to see this kind of balanced scoring every game. Not trying to infer anything here but perhaps everyone felt the need to step up their game with Garcia out. It will be interesting to see if this happens again on Saturday if Garcia does not play.