I'd say winning a tournament game has to be on the list given we have only one and winning the San Juan Shootout over a stacked field is the other. After those two, I'd say this is the best win IMHO the Gophers have had given when it occurred. To go on the road in late February and beat a really good Maryland team for a chance at a top 4 seed in the B1G tournament and absolutely wrapping up a spot in the dance? YES! Huge congrats to Pitino, his coaching staff and all of the players on an absolutely spectacular performance.
Akeem Springs shooting was huge early in the first and early in the second half! Dupree McBrayer was amazing in the second half and it's great to see him bounce back with two of the better games in his career after his struggles. The Jordan Murphy turnaround is something amazing. He even was making free throws tonight! I could have done without the early 3's, but those back downs in to finishes were huge. Amir continues to play like an upperclassmen and makes a number of winning plays. Nate Mason was up and down, but had a huge and 1 late in the first half when things were going awry and continues to be our most valuable player who has to play almost all 40 minutes. I don't know if anyone listened to Pitino's coaching show this week, but Nate has been dealing with Bronchitis recently...and is still out there almost the entire game!
What made this game super satisfying to me is that the Gophers fought through a lot of adversity. I honestly can't believe it was Turgeon who got T'd up and not Pitino given how that game was officiated. Turgeon wasn't happy with getting nearly every call to go his way...he needed all of them? Reggie got called for a terrible over the back that put him on the bench and Maryland was bailed out of players falling down on their own at least twice. Bakary was awful tonight and was a huge part of most of the runs Maryland made and he was in as a direct result of a couple of questionable Lynch fouls. When Pitino switched to a Curry/Murphy frontcourt and kept Bakary on the bench the Gophers started to get going again. It's pretty exciting to think that we've got two more years of Curry and Murphy, talented bigs are probably the most difficult players to sign.
Huge congrats to Pitino, his staff, the players and all involved in this turnaround.
Akeem Springs shooting was huge early in the first and early in the second half! Dupree McBrayer was amazing in the second half and it's great to see him bounce back with two of the better games in his career after his struggles. The Jordan Murphy turnaround is something amazing. He even was making free throws tonight! I could have done without the early 3's, but those back downs in to finishes were huge. Amir continues to play like an upperclassmen and makes a number of winning plays. Nate Mason was up and down, but had a huge and 1 late in the first half when things were going awry and continues to be our most valuable player who has to play almost all 40 minutes. I don't know if anyone listened to Pitino's coaching show this week, but Nate has been dealing with Bronchitis recently...and is still out there almost the entire game!
What made this game super satisfying to me is that the Gophers fought through a lot of adversity. I honestly can't believe it was Turgeon who got T'd up and not Pitino given how that game was officiated. Turgeon wasn't happy with getting nearly every call to go his way...he needed all of them? Reggie got called for a terrible over the back that put him on the bench and Maryland was bailed out of players falling down on their own at least twice. Bakary was awful tonight and was a huge part of most of the runs Maryland made and he was in as a direct result of a couple of questionable Lynch fouls. When Pitino switched to a Curry/Murphy frontcourt and kept Bakary on the bench the Gophers started to get going again. It's pretty exciting to think that we've got two more years of Curry and Murphy, talented bigs are probably the most difficult players to sign.
Huge congrats to Pitino, his staff, the players and all involved in this turnaround.