STrib: Whalen, Gophers Looking for January Rebound

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Lindsay Whalen, Gophers women looking for January rebounds

Gophers look to put Ohio State loss, first-month regression from 2019 behind them

www.startribune.com

Kent Youngblood:

“The last three to four minutes of the game, I had the ball in my hands a lot,” said Destiny Pitts, who scored 26 points but also eight of the Gophers’ 16 turnovers. “I feel I need to make better decisions down the stretch. I watched the film, saw some of the reads I could have made. This game is crucial. We don’t want this to turn into how we started the Big Ten last year.”

To that end, Whalen has stressed a few things in practice this week:

Ball movement: There were too many forced shots and too much dribbling against Ohio State, which ended with the Gophers logging eight assists and 16 turnovers. They averaged nearly 16 assists per game before the OSU game. “We have to have that one more [pass] mentality,” Whalen said. “We need more draw-and-kicks, especially late in the shot clock.”

More three-point shooting: This could come from those draw-and-kicks. The Gophers are first in the Big Ten in three-point shooting (40.2 percent). “Every time we’ve emphasized something, the team does a good job of responding in a game,” Whalen said. “I’m confident about us passing the ball and getting good shots down in Nebraska.”

Poise: Most games will be tight in a conference with eight teams in the top 50 in RPI, according to the NCAA (the Gophers are 51st). To Whalen, poise means sticking to the game plan. Against the taller, physical Buckeyes, the game plan was designed to deny points in the paint. That plan worked until late, with 12 of their final 15 points coming there.

 

[Shades]

Whalen seems to be able to figure what went wrong after the game by watching film.

Now she needs to take that next step and figure out what’s going wrong during the game and make the proper adjustments immediately. This doesn’t seem to be a strong suit of hers whether it’s because of her lack of experience or what have you.

I suspect this step is too big for her right now.

 

[tripledouble]

To her credit, she did implement a zone defense to start the second half and that was effective But they got away from that as soon as Bell hit a couple threes. Would have liked them to use that zone more often. (Have no problem with them changing defenses often against a young team like OSU.)

 

[beavergopher]

So much for avoiding that slump.

 

[GringaGopher]

Expected growing pains in a second year coach with no previous coaching experience. I have always and will continue to be a LW fan but these slumps should not come as a surprise. I am confident she will continue to recruit well and get her system as well as the players who are a good fit to be successful.