There’s been a lot of storming lately in Minnesota, blizzards, sleet and rain have all come in down from the sky in the recent weeks, but more than that students at the U of M have finally had something to cheer for. The Gophers football kept the border battle Ax in Minneapolis with a 17-7 win during a snow storm on 11/29. Students poured onto the Huntington Bank field as they all but clinched a bowl game appearance.
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Days later on 12/3 the Gophers men’s team defeated the ranked number twenty two, Indiana 73-64 which created another opportunity for students to run onto the Barns elevated floor. This leaves the Gophers Women’s basketball team an opportunity to complete a trifecta in their big ten opener against the number seven ranked Maryland to open up their big ten season. A third strait storming of the court is on the line, and Gophers women appear to be up to the challenge.
The Gophers made a conscious effort to raise their non conference contribution in an attempt to capitalize off of their WMIT championship run in 2024-25. Sure, they still played the typical non-conference warm up games with North Dakota, Manhattan, NJIT, and Samford. They also added some much tougher opponents, they defeated Marquette (90-47) in a statement win, and beat USF (57-45) in their opening game in the Bahamas tournament. The two wins are over teams expected to be on the fringes of making the tournament this season.
Their losses both came on the road to Kansas, 63-57, Kansas at the time was undefeated and are currently 7-2, the other loss came in the Bahamas against Alabama,63-58, who are still undefeated at 8-0. Both losses at this time are considered losses to good teams looking to make noise in the BIG-12 and SEC. The non-conference schedule was meant to prepare the Gophers who enter big 10 play at 6-2 for the increase in competition. It’s something starting Guard Grace Grocholski spoke on Wednesday prior to Maryland.
“As we know the big ten, every night is a hard game so I think it’s definitely preparing us for those challenges and it prepares us to even prepare for games live that(Maryland)”
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While the non-conference performances has led to a couple losses, it has also led to the Gophers gaining an identity something they struggled at times last season to pin down due to injuries and inconsistent play. This season they are a defensively sound team that prides themselves on their teamwork and smart play. They are currently holding opponents to just 32.0% field goal percentage(twelfth best in the country), and 25.9% from three point range. Which has resulted in opposing teams scoring just 47.5 points per game.
Opponent field goal percentage is only half the story, they are forcing opposing teams to turn the ball over 19.9 times per game with them getting 9.5 of those turnovers off of steals, all while limiting fouls to just 14.3 per game. Mara Braun spoke on what has gone into the Gophers defensive priorities earlier in the week.
“Energy, our intensity, communication is huge for us.” Braun said “I think especially we’ve seen so far this year is how we’ve started games is really important and bringing that intensity and getting three stops in a row, we call them TKOs… locking in on that side, we know we can control that.”
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Offensively the Gophers have struggled at times, but their team play has led to them being able to win games. Currently four players are averaging double figures in scoring, four players are averaging two or more assists and four players are averaging four or more rebounds all while nine players are averaging double digits in minutes.
This has led to the Gophers being able to focus the ball to the player that’s hot shooting or seeing the floor best. Between Braun, Grocholski and Amaya Battle they are able to run three guard smaller lineups with a focus on ball movement and speed, while also maintaining their defensive identity and making things tough for teams on the perimeter with their switching ability.
With the Gophers coaches and players stating multiple times this season that their goal is to make the tournament, a win against Maryland would catch the attention of national media, especially with how the Gophers have performed so far this season and how their style of play. More importantly though, a win against Maryland will give the student section another excuse to storm the court to start the big ten season.