This is on the players

Donate To GopherHole
It's a forget about it game..

I have no idea who somebody would say played well for the Gophers. Yes, Springs was AWOL, but nobody played consistent. Mason scored some points but then did lots of things that didn't help. Coffey and McBrayer same thing. Murphy couldn't stay on the floor long enough to get involved...without his double double somebody else has to elevate. Lynch lost control of the ball so often, especially on 50/50 balls, I wouldn't feel good about throwing it to him either. He got outmuscled, out hustled on too many rebounds. And yes, Lynch had 8 rebounds and 5 blocks but there was so much more available to him. We had nobody play even to their average ability...certainly not anything similar to their better individual play of the last month. I've said Konate has been consistent...even his basic ordinary fundamental contributions were absent...making him a liability. Curry was lost compared to how he has demonstrated he can play...got some rebounds, not much else going on. Hurt just ran around.

Somebody needs to step up and lead these guys. We should have been, easily ahead by double figures in the first half. You gotta make some big plays. You gotta answer. We had nobody play well consistently, it's not just one guy who didn't show up, it was everybody. Referees didn't lose us the game on any level but we sure didn't overcome the fact of the way they called it, which wasn't helpful to our flow.

Forget about it, regroup and be excited for another opportunity on Friday. We have all seen us play well. We just didn't show up as a team on Sunday, evidently as stated, happy with our guaranteed 4 seed.
 

I would argue that we played the first half extremely well, especially given the foul trouble.
 

brucekaupa said:
I would argue that we played the first half extremely well, especially given the foul trouble.
Click to expand...

Comparatively, maybe. Koenig sat longer than Murphy. Brown was in foul trouble and sat a long time too . Hayes was in a funk. Happ was totally under defensive control and frustrated. Wisconsin had no confidence, nobody was a threat. That's exactly how they have been playing in their losing swoon. Wisconsin made what? 2 of 9 free throws in the first half? Wisconsin had 12 points after 13 minutes gone by in the first half..we let them off the hook. Yet, they are down two at the half on senior day with four senior starters. Not hard to see what's coming.
Yes, we helped cause Wisconsin's first half offensive issues but we did not play anything like we have offensively the past month....first half or all day. Sure we had 29 vs 20 by half but the opportunity in so many ways was there to dominate the first half...to run away with the game. We did not make the plays.
2nd half Koenig made 3 threes on three attempts...that's the game. IF, We have somebody do that in the first half like Springs or McBrayer or Mason have and Wisconsin is moping and saying here we go again. Or if we run our stuff, make twos and free throws but we were happy to be close. We did not seize the opportunity. Not the day to play Wisconsin just close in the first half when it was so easy to be up 12 to 20 playing just decently offensively ourselves. We didn't take advantage of our opportunities.

I don't have half time stats but we shot 32% for the game. I don't think it was appreciably better in the first half. We did do some good things in the first half for sure...but if that's all there is we won't beat anyone. By our defense and and Wisconsin's swoon they were horrible for about the middle 15 minutes of the first half.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Unlike most, I like the Wisky O. Lots of 1 on 1 opportunities and open 3's.

They really rub tight off the screens, much better than the Gophers. Makes it tough to defend. And get lots of 3 looks when the defenders double down low. Our offense looks cluttered in the middle compared to theirs. Of course, we don't have a Happ.
Click to expand...

What I don't like is how their bigs can just back all the way down from the 3 point line to the block. I don't blame them for doing it because the refs allow it. I just hate it.
 

60's Guy said:
Comparatively, maybe. Koenig sat longer than Murphy. Brown was in foul trouble and sat a long time too . Hayes was in a funk. Happ was totally under defensive control and frustrated. Wisconsin had no confidence, nobody was a threat. That's exactly how they have been playing in their losing swoon. Wisconsin made what? 2 of 9 free throws in the first half? Wisconsin had 12 points after 13 minutes gone by in the first half..we let them off the hook. Yet, they are down two at the half on senior day with four senior starters. Not hard to see what's coming.
Yes, we helped cause Wisconsin's first half offensive issues but we did not play anything like we have offensively the past month....first half or all day. Sure we had 29 vs 20 by half but the opportunity in so many ways was there to dominate the first half...to run away with the game. We did not make the plays.
2nd half Koenig made 3 threes on three attempts...that's the game. IF, We have somebody do that in the first half like Springs or McBrayer or Mason have and Wisconsin is moping and saying here we go again. Or if we run our stuff, make twos and free throws but we were happy to be close. We did not seize the opportunity. Not the day to play Wisconsin just close in the first half when it was so easy to be up 12 to 20 playing just decently offensively ourselves. We didn't take advantage of our opportunities.

I don't have half time stats but we shot 32% for the game. I don't think it was appreciably better in the first half. We did do some good things in the first half for sure...but if that's all there is we won't beat anyone. By our defense and and Wisconsin's swoon they were horrible for about the middle 15 minutes of the first half.
Click to expand...

We played great defense in the first half. That's about it.

With the way the refs were calling the game and the way we were shooting it was going to be a struggle. I was not feeling great during half time whatsoever.

Our only option was going to the rim and getting to the line given no one was shooting well. When we turned the ball over or lost control every time we got to the paint it was game over. Add in Wisky's run in the middle of the second half where Brown, Showwalter, Bronson and Trice all hit threes in a series of 7-8 possession handcuffed by live ball turnovers we netted 0 points from, that was the story of the game.

It was ugly, and we missed on key opportunities to win it, the "winning plays" didn't get made.
 


I thought at the start of the game that everyone was a little over excited and needed to just settle down a bit and play under control. Overall I was happy with the first half, and in the second half I'm not sure if frustration set in or what, but the energy wasn't good and there was way too much one on five offense, and overall I think everyone was just trying to do too much.

In the grand scheme of things, this was not a terrible loss by any means, but obviously it's a let down after being as confident going into Madison as we have been in a long time. I just hate losing to Wisconsin.

Hopefully the coaching staff keeps their attitudes up and uses the extended break to get them rested up and re-focused. I still believe this team has at least few more wins in them, but they can't let one terrible half ruin all of the momentum they've built up.
 

A lot of things went wrong yesterday but Pitino needs to take some heat for those ridiculous rotations as well. No guard was in foul trouble, yet he would sit Mason and Coffey, the two true distributors, together for minutes at a time. When those two were off the floor, we'd have Hurt and BK out there together which hurts the eyes. In the B1G/NCAA Tourneys, we simply can't ever have a Dupree, Springs, Hurt, Curry, BK lineup out there like we did multiple times yesterday.
 

gopherhoopsguy said:
We played like we did on our 5 game losing streak.

Not enough or any big touches.. how many times did lynch have his guy completely sealed no entry from numerous wings. Looking right at him then pass away.

Murphy hardly any touches. We were winning because bigs were touching the ball and going inside out.

To much 1 on 1.

To many missed FT

On the players go back to what was working.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Also with the too much 1 on 1 = missed layups/bunnies
 

It seemed to me that the players might have gone into the game overconfident - or at least too loose - and had gotten under-confident by the end of it. The number of close-in misses and free throw misses suggests that it was either one of those nights or that they weren't right mentally. Combine that with Murphy's foul trouble, and there's your game right there. Gophs could have kept up with the Badgers with more offense.

Maybe the Gophers need to have their backs against the wall in order to come out with focus and determination. Getting the double bye seems to have made them relax. Hopefully they haven't lost their edge.
 



You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom