Trying to find a bright spot

[SelectionSunday]

If Michigan beats Indiana tomorrow, the Gophers will hold the #5 seed for the BTT heading into the second half of the season! And your #4 seed at the halfway point? None other than the Northwestern Wildcats, who have never advanced to the semifinals of the BTT. A tip of the cap to Chris Collins for what he has accomplished so far. Amazing they're 5-5 after the start they got off to in the Big Ten season.

Stating the obvious, with or without Andre, the Gophers need to find a way to grind out a win in West Lafayette on Wednesday. It's time for the Gophers to join all the fun that all these road teams are having.

Boiler down.

 

[sal]

Trying to find a bright spot

I may not see a bright spot till tomorrow...evening or so. The lads should take Auston's advice and outlook.

Austin Hollins
We can't blame any loss on Dre's absence.
On how to rebound after this - We shake it off, we practice hard
If this loss is harder - They're all losses, all the same to me, just gotta bounce back

 

[Conan]

Or maybe Austin can step up like I expected a 1,000 point scoring senior to do. He has been absolutely invisible offensively.

 

[jmag21]

Or maybe Austin can step up like I expected a 1,000 point scoring senior to do. He has been absolutely invisible offensively.

Austin was pretty good today. Malik was the guy that killed us (along with missed layups, free throws, and the refs).

 

[station19]

Or maybe Austin can step up like I expected a 1,000 point scoring senior to do. He has been absolutely invisible offensively.

Spencer's player of the game today.

 

[gopherMD]

Malik had off day making the loss of Andre even tougher. If you have followed NU during their winning stretch you have to take your hat off to Demps who is a cold blooded assassin in crunch time. Knocking down that 3 inside 1 minute was a killer. The Gophers had their chances at crunch time but could not close. I still like their chances to get to the big dance.

 

[GopherinPhilly]

The bright spot is if you would have told me 6 months ago that we would be 4-5 after 9 games in big ten play with Dre missing 3 games I would have been pleased. We were picked to finish in the bottom 3 by just about everyone...we need to go 5-4 in the second half and win one BTT game and I am 100% confident we are dancing in March.

Sounds like most of ours best case scenario when we were making our season predictions.

 

[howeda7]

McNeil's play at PG was a bright spot for however long Dre is out, which I pray is only one more game. And generally, the only player who played better than expected was Mo Walker and we still were only one point short of pulling it out. Our ability to stay in every game other than Iowa means that we don't have to assume automatic losses at Wiscy and OSU.

 

[bottlebass]

The bright spot is if you would have told me 6 months ago that we would be 4-5 after 9 games in big ten play with Dre missing 3 games I would have been pleased. We were picked to finish in the bottom 3 by just about everyone...we need to go 5-4 in the second half and win one BTT game and I am 100% confident we are dancing in March.

Sounds like most of ours best case scenario when we were making our season predictions.

Agree with this. The team to this point has still exceeded most expectations at the start of the season. That is the bright spot.

 

[howieramone]

McNeil's play at PG was a bright spot for however long Dre is out, which I pray is only one more game. And generally, the only player who played better than expected was Mo Walker and we still were only one point short of pulling it out. Our ability to stay in every game other than Iowa means that we don't have to assume automatic losses at Wiscy and OSU.

+1

 

[station19]

McNeil's play at PG was a bright spot for however long Dre is out, which I pray is only one more game. And generally, the only player who played better than expected was Mo Walker and we still were only one point short of pulling it out. Our ability to stay in every game other than Iowa means that we don't have to assume automatic losses at Wiscy and OSU.

McNeil played 24 minutes. Like Coach Pitino said; it isn't replacing Andre in the starting line-up so much, it's replacing him off the bench.

It would be much nicer having Andre 24 minutes vs McNeil 24 minutes.

 

[SelectionSunday]

My bad. Didn't word my thought very well.

Trying to find a "silver lining" from yesterday's loss was more what I was trying to say. Certainly there have been plenty of bright spots this season, as some of you have pointed out.

 

[scools12]

McNeil's play at PG was a bright spot for however long Dre is out, which I pray is only one more game. And generally, the only player who played better than expected was Mo Walker and we still were only one point short of pulling it out. Our ability to stay in every game other than Iowa means that we don't have to assume automatic losses at Wiscy and OSU.

Agree on McNeil. He seems to know what he is out there to do which at this point is not try and do too much. Shows some ability to defend and ability to get to the rim offensively.

He probably is a good look at the type of guards Pitino is trying to get here to play his system.

 

[book]

It just seems we need to learn how to win a close game...

 

[Gopher Warrior]

Malik had off day making the loss of Andre even tougher. If you have followed NU during their winning stretch you have to take your hat off to Demps who is a cold blooded assassin in crunch time. Knocking down that 3 inside 1 minute was a killer. The Gophers had their chances at crunch time but could not close. I still like their chances to get to the big dance.

Yep. That's what you get with Malik. He kept the Gophers in it vs. Nebraska, but couldn't buy a 3 yesterday. He can be great one night and struggle the next.

Demps... some of his shots are outrageous. The fade away crap.. as a coach they would drive me crazy, but he makes some of them and it looks amazing when he does. He's similar to Malik in that his confidence to make a shot doesn't seem to waver a lot, even when he's not converting a lot. I recall Tubby going after him late...

 

[station19]

Yep. That's what you get with Malik. He kept the Gophers in it vs. Nebraska, but couldn't buy a 3 yesterday. He can be great one night and struggle the next.

Demps... some of his shots are outrageous. The fade away crap.. as a coach they would drive me crazy, but he makes some of them and it looks amazing when he does. He's similar to Malik in that his confidence to make a shot doesn't seem to waver a lot, even when he's not converting a lot. I recall Tubby going after him late...

That seemed to happen often.

 

[BOUNDOUTPASSDUNK]

The Hollins2x-o-Meter remains a combined 25-30 ppg. In Dre's absence it becomes the Austin/Malik meter, far more unpredictable. And with that unreliability, we see the disappointments of NEB and NW. We can only hope that we are able to prevail on the road at Purdue to make up for these two losses. The inside game won't come as easily if Hammonds shows up, but he is as predictable as Tiger Woods' golf game these days. The Gophs have a genuine opportunity for redemption.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Yep. That's what you get with Malik. He kept the Gophers in it vs. Nebraska, but couldn't buy a 3 yesterday. He can be great one night and struggle the next.

Demps... some of his shots are outrageous. The fade away crap.. as a coach they would drive me crazy, but he makes some of them and it looks amazing when he does. He's similar to Malik in that his confidence to make a shot doesn't seem to waver a lot, even when he's not converting a lot. I recall Tubby going after him late...

I have no problem with Malik continuing to take open 3-point shots even when he is cold. But when he keeps shooting off balance bad shots when he isn't hitting anything, then I think he is out of control.

 

[howieramone]

It just seems we need to learn how to win a close game...

I agree, the last thing a team learns is how to win. Jumping ahead to next season, Mathieu, Dre, and EE as seniors will show that every time they hit the court. Coach P. is doing a great job!

 

[bga1]

It was a bummer of a loss in nearly every way. The bright spot is that we continue to stay in every game without Andre Hollins. In the NW game we got very little out of Elliason, Smith had a bad day and even missed three FTs, Austin still can't hit a three and Matheui was just okay again in foul trouble early. Still because of the improvement of Walker and a good second half by Austin we were a 2 foot shot from winning at the buzzer.

We are still going to beat a team or two that we shouldn't once Andre returns and maybe we will beat the Boilers without him. Austin Hollins is going to go crazy from long range one of these days- he is shooting 21% in Big Ten play and he is a much better shooter than that. I still like where the team is headed even though I had a sinking feeling after the game that the NW game might be the one that costs us the NCAAs. Circle the game at NW in a few weeks- that's a must.