GopherHole.com Player Spotlight: Jeff Hagen

Best Game: vs. Michigan on February 11th. For the second year in a row, Jeff’s best performance of the season came in a February home game against the Wolverines. This time, it was the best game of his career by far. Jeff finished with career highs in points (16) and rebounds (10), and his 28 minutes played were just one shy of his high in that category. Jeff was a dominant 7 for 11 from the field against a talented Michigan frontcourt. He also filled out the stat sheet with 2 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal.

Game to Forget: vs. Michigan State on January 28th. This one’s a tougher call, since many of Jeff’s poorer performances this past season were largely due (in my opinion) to his badly sprained ankle. But this game against the Spartans came after Jeff had been back for several weeks and was probably about as healthy as he was going to get until the offseason. Jeff scored just 2 points in his 13 minutes of playing time, and he grabbed just one rebound. He also was shutout in blocks and assists and didn’t get to the free throw line. Basically, Jeff didn’t play big against a Michigan State frontline that didn’t have a whole lot of size.

Positive Number: 6.75 rebounds, 2.4 assists. Jeff’s averages of 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists don’t warrant much attention (although 1.3 isn’t bad for a center), but when you consider that he only played 16 minutes per game, they’re not too bad. Scale them up to 30 minutes of playing time, and Jeff averaged 6.75 and 2.4. And that was with a bad ankle. Now Jeff almost certainly won’t play 30 minutes each game this season, but if healthy he could put up some solid numbers on the boards and with his passing.

Negative Number: 0.2. That’s how much Jeff’s scoring average increased from his sophomore year even though he played 42% more minutes. Again, the ankle injury played a role in that. Having a dominant low post scorer in Kris Humphries played a role as well. But for a player with the size and offensive skills that Jeff has, 4.3 points just doesn’t cut it. The Gophers will need Jeff to step up and be more of an offensive focal point this season.

Development Priority #1: Get (and Stay) Healthy. I don’t mean to keep bringing up the injury excuse, but I do believe that had more of an impact on Jeff’s season than most people realized. In the games where Jeff appeared able to move well, he generally played well. When he couldn’t move as well, he had a hard time getting minutes. Jeff is now moving very well this summer, and he looks like a different player. Injuries will happen [the ankle sprain was unavoidable], but Jeff needs to do whatever he can to be in great shape and quicker than ever when the season starts. Then we’ll just keep our fingers crossed.

Development Priority #2: Play Big. I mentioned this one a year ago, and it’s still on my list. With Jeff’s size and skills, he should be a dominant offensive player whenever he’s posting up against a smaller defender. But he has the bad habit of making himself small by putting the ball on the floor and bending down to gather himself before going up with it. Jeff shouldn’t let a day of workouts go by without focusing on catching the ball high and keeping it high. If he can do that in games, he’ll be tough to stop. And with his passing skills, teams will pay if they try to double-team him.

Ideal Stat Line: 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists. Ok, you caught me. This is the same Ideal Stat Line I used for Jeff last summer. It obviously didn’t come true, but in my defense it was made before Kris Humphries’ future with the Gophers was finalized. And of course there was that pesky ankle injury. I had expected Jeff to play 20-25 minutes, but he only had a few games in that range (he averaged 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists in those). I still think these numbers are a good reach goal for Jeff’s final season as a Gopher. As the only true center on the roster, he’ll have a chance to play a lot of minutes. And he’ll have a chance to score. If Jeff can flirt with double-doubles all season, the Gophers will have a chance to surprise some people.