Rothstein | Nate Mason a game-time decision against Illinois

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per Rothstein:

Minnesota Golden Gophers senior guard Nate Mason is being considered as a game-time decision for Wednesday’s matchup against the Illinois Fighting Illini, head coach Richard Pitino has informed FanRag Sports. Leading to such a decision, Mason has been battling a lingering ankle injury and did not play on December 30 against the Harvard Crimson.

With the Wednesday evening clash slated to take place at home for the 12-3 Golden Gophers, Minnesota will be hosting a 10-5 Fighting Illini team that has shown flashes of talent at times this season.

Standing at 6-2 while weighing 190 pounds, Mason is currently in the midst of his fourth collegiate campaign, all of which have come as a member of the Golden Gophers. Originally arriving on campus at Minnesota back in 2014-15, Mason promptly averaged 9.8 points across 26.1 minutes per game as a freshman.

https://www.fanragsports.com/rothstein-nate-mason-a-game-time-decision-against-illinois/

Go Gophers!!
 

I'm not sure we need him for a win in this game. As long as IW plays like he did on Saturday.....except for the amount of shots he took.

2cents
 

Gopherbbdude said:
I'm not sure we need him for a win in this game. As long as IW plays like he did on Saturday.....except for the amount of shots he took.

2cents
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The way we struggled at times in non-conf. there will be 0 games in big ten where we can say "I'm not sure we need 'x' player to win this game"

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

GoldenUMNGopher said:
The way we struggled at times in non-conf. there will be 0 games in big ten where we can say "I'm not sure we need 'x' player to win this game"

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
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True....but IL is bad
 

Gopherbbdude said:
True....but IL is bad
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I would not call Illinois bad. There is plenty of talent there. Bad is Rutgers (B1G), Pitt (ACC), DePaul (Big East), and Cal (Pac 12). Those are true bottom-feeders from major conferences.

Illinois has the talent to play with, and beat, the Gophers. Dangerous, tricky game for Gophers, especially if no Mason, which probably will be the case.
 


SelectionSunday said:
Illinois is not bad. Bad is Rutgers (B1G), Pitt (ACC), DePaul (Big East), and Cal (Pac 12). Those are true bottom-feeders from major conferences.

Illinois has the talent to play with, and beat, the Gophers. Dangerous, tricky game for Gophers, especially if no Mason
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Rutgers will Beat IL both times they play them. I've watched IL a couple times and they look very disorganized and have had poor decision making. They haven't beat an average team yet.

just my 2cents
 

17 shots from a freshman in a B1G game where he hits on only 3? usually means a loss.
 

Gopherbbdude said:
True....but IL is bad
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Illinois is far from bad. 2 BIG losses by a combined 5 points and a win over a solid Missouri team. Team is very Jekyll and Hyde. They will beat some teams they shouldn't and lose to some teams they shouldn't either. Either way, Gophs don't have the depth to overlook anyone. Foul trouble or injury of any one of our starters can impact the game significantly.
 

Gopherbbdude said:
Rutgers will Beat IL both times they play them. I've watched IL a couple times and they look very disorganized and have had poor decision making. They haven't beat an average team yet.

just my 2cents
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Mizzou has been far better than average, but generally speaking, I agree with your premise. ... that's the only good team the Illini have beaten.

Rutgers has improved, but would be very surprised if they beat Illinois twice.
 



Mizz has beat nobody, other than ISU and that was the first game of the year for both teams.

I just don't think IL is very good. If MN plays well they will stomp IL.....with or without Mason.


now that I said that MN will most likely lose....ugh :)
 

I don't think the Gophers can lose to Illinois, regardless of Nate Mason's status. I hope he plays and the Gophers crush but I would rather "risk" losing this game and have him healthy for the rest of the year.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I don't think the Gophers can lose to Illinois, regardless of Nate Mason's status. I hope he plays and the Gophers crush but I would rather "risk" losing this game and have him healthy for the rest of the year.
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With as inconsistent as we have been at times I don't think we will be able to take anyone on the schedule for granted.

My hope is that Mason is available in a reserve/emergency role but we don't need him.
 




"nobodies" and "bad" are relative to the person saying them I guess.

Go Gophers anyway!!

:clap:
 

Looking at their team stats it looks like they play ten players at times could mean trouble with Mason out and our short bench. Hoping for the best, go gophers!
 

At full strength, gophers are maybe 6 point favorites at home against Illinois. No Mason is a big blow to deal with for any amount of time.
 

Both these games worry me this week. Both teams are Jekyll and Hyde teams. Historically we have not played Illinois well. Taking a quick look back show's the all time series at 116-63 in Illinois' favor, which had a streak of 20 in a row that ended in 2008. In the last ten games against them we are 4-6 against them. There is a different intensity at the beginning of the Big Ten season where every team still thinks they have a chance. I agree with whoever said that there isn't a gimme game this year and we will need to jump on them early and get the crowd into it.
 

Gold Vision said:
At full strength, gophers are maybe 6 point favorites at home against Illinois. No Mason is a big blow to deal with for any amount of time.
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Where are you getting this from? I think they'd be favored by at least that much on a neutral court, and home court in the B1G is worth at least 3 points, maybe more.
 



I would think if Mason is borderline healthy they would keep him out one more game to make sure he is healthy for the long haul.
 

howeda7 said:
Where are you getting this from? I think they'd be favored by at least that much on a neutral court, and home court in the B1G is worth at least 3 points, maybe more.
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I was just looking at Sagarin rankings and the projected spreads for the game at the time.

We were only 13 point favorites against Harvard, Illinois is a better team than Harvard.
 

This game will not be a cake walk like a few of you think. Without mason this will be a tough game.
 

Gold Vision said:
I was just looking at Sagarin rankings and the projected spreads for the game at the time.

We were only 13 point favorites against Harvard, Illinois is a better team than Harvard.
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I don’t think you were adding the home points. Would be 8 on Sagarin and closer to 10 using TeamRankings.
 

RickDornsby said:
I don’t think you were adding the home points. Would be 8 on Sagarin and closer to 10 using TeamRankings.
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I pulled the spread straight from RPIforecast.com (who uses Sagarin’s Predictor) and rounded down from 6.7 to make my point sound more legit. :)
 

SelectionSunday said:
I would not call Illinois bad. There is plenty of talent there. Bad is Rutgers (B1G), Pitt (ACC), DePaul (Big East), and Cal (Pac 12). Those are true bottom-feeders from major conferences.

Illinois has the talent to play with, and beat, the Gophers. Dangerous, tricky game for Gophers, especially if no Mason, which probably will be the case.
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Agreed. I'm not even sure Rutgers this year is really bad. Really bad would be our team from two years ago but even they won 2 conference games before the bottom fell out from suspensions and injuries.
 

Gopherbbdude said:
I'm not sure we need him for a win in this game. As long as IW plays like he did on Saturday.....except for the amount of shots he took.

2cents
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Why? Because Washington had 13 rebounds?

By basic and advanced metrics Washington has had a pretty rough start to his Gopher career. He's better than McBrayer was at this point of the freshman season (mainly because he's stronger, more aggressive, and a better ball handler) but that's not saying a lot. He's certainly no substitute for Mason yet.
 

cjbfbp said:
Why? Because Washington had 13 rebounds?

By basic and advanced metrics Washington has had a pretty rough start to his Gopher career. He's better than McBrayer was at this point of the freshman season (mainly because he's stronger, more aggressive, and a better ball handler) but that's not saying a lot. He's certainly no substitute for Mason yet.
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I say that because he played better than he had....and the rest of the group is still very capable of beating IL without Mason.

that is all
 

gophers would win without Mason or IW. Illinois is a dog.
 

If we can't beat Illinois without Mason we don't deserve to make the tournament. We have 3 other starters in Coffey, Murphy and Lynch who are All-Big 10 talent
 

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