Grier and Gophers Get the Red Out

This second half scoring stat says it all: Wisconsin 26 Vincent Grier 26. After a low-scoring first half that ended with a major drought, Vincent Grier caught fire, The Barn was finally back close to being The Barn of the good old days, and the Gophers got a very, very big win in knocking off the #19 Badgers 60-50.

Minnesota started quickly out of the blocks, hitting 8 of 10 shots and building a 20-13 lead. The Gophers hit just 1 of their next 19 shots, though, and went scoreless over the final 7:30 of the first half. But as has been the case many times this season, the Gophers were saved by their defense. While they did make a run, the Badgers went scoreless over the last 4:55 and led just 24-22 at halftime. Both teams shot just 30% from the field, but Wisconsin had a large edge from three-point range (4-9 vs. 0-6 for Minnesota).

Whatever Coach Monson then said to Vincent Grier and the rest of the players during halftime should be saved verbatim and used for every game. Grier hit a pull-up jumper on Minnesota’s first possession, and from then he simply went off. Some of the more senior GopherHolers might have some other nominations, but I can’t remember a more dominating 20-minute performance by a player at Williams Arena. Vincent made 12 of 14 shots (after going 2 for 7 in the first half) and carried the team on his shoulders. He primarily scored on pull-up jumpers and in the post (something I’m hoping we’ll see more of) rather than off the dribble as he usually does. I think teams may start respecting his jumper a bit more after this performance.

While Grier scored 26 of Minnesota’s final 38 points, this was still very much a team effort. It was the team defense – a swarming mid-court trap along with quick hands and timely shot-blocking in the post – that set the tone for the second half just as much as Grier’s shooting. The Gophers had 9 steals, forced Wisconsin into 17 turnovers (well above their average), and held them to a season-low 33% shooting from the field (also Minnesota’s season low for an opponent).

Every Gopher in the starting lineup made multiple huge plays in the second half, and they all put up some good numbers. Brent Lawson finished with 8 points, 4 steals, and 2 assists. He got the game started quickly with 2 steals and 5 points in the opening minutes, and he hit a big 3-pointer in the second half. Jeff Hagen had 7 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, and 2 assists, and had a very good defensive second half.

Dan Coleman had 6 points and came up with several big defensive rebounds down the stretch (he had 7 boards overall). And even though he shot just 1 for 6 from the field, Aaron Robinson was also a key. He finished with 7 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists, and it was his three-pointer in transition that gave the Gophers their first double-digit lead of the second half – a lead they did a very solid job of maintaining over the final 8-plus minutes of the game.

This Gopher team just seems to keep learning from their mistakes and improving. They had 25 turnovers against Michigan; today they had just 11. They weren’t quite ready for the magnitude of their last huge game (against Michigan State); this time they were. They couldn’t overcome a first-half offensive funk against Iowa; today they did. They used to have some foul problems when playing aggressive defense; today they committed just 11 fouls total and gave Wisconsin just 6 free throw attempts.

Today’s problems were few: primarily giving up 15 offensive rebounds and not shooting very well from the perimeter (other than Grier). If they can improve on those things for the next game, Northwestern could be in for a long night.

Here’s the box score.

***Four more wins***

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