Gophers Go To Iowa City Looking to Avenge Loss to Hawkeyes - OPEN THREAD
by GopherNation on Feb 1, 2012 6:00 PM CST
in Gopher Basketball
Email
PrintMinnesota Golden Gophers at Iowa Hawkeyes, Feb 1, 2012 7:30 PM CST
Can we avenge the loss to Iowa from early January? Since that loss the Gophers are 4-2 with a couple nice wins while Iowa has gone the other way going 1-5. Let's keep these trends going, shall we?
Game Time: 7:30
TV: BTN
| Pos | Minnesota | Pnt/Gm | Pnt/Gm | Iowa |
Pos | |
| PG | Julian Welch |
10.1 | 6.1 | Bryce Cartwright |
G | |
| G | Joe Coleman | 6.4 | 13.5 | Matt Gatens |
G | |
| F | Austin Hollins | 8.7 | 11.4 | Roy Devyn Marble |
F | |
| F | Rodney Williams | 10.6 | 8.4 | Zach McCabe | F | |
| C | Ralph Sampson III | 8.2 | 9.7 | Aaron White |
F | |
| Bench | Andre Hollins | 5.5 | 8.1 | Melsahn Basabe | Bench | |
| Bench |
Chip Armelin | 6.2 | 6.1 | Eric May | Bench | |
| Bench |
Oto Osenieks |
3.3 | 6.8 | Josh Oglesby |
Bench |
I am more curious about the Gopher lineup than I am the opponent's tonight. Julian Welch was benched down the stretch of the Illinois game in favor of Andre Hollins. Was Tubby riding the hot hand or is Andre earning himself some more time? Elliason has an ankle injury which may or may not affect his PT, Tubby has said that Oto will play more and we'll "go small."
Can Rodney and Joe get going offensively tonight against one of the weaker defensive teams in the conference?
| KenPom Efficiency Stats | Minnesota (46) |
Iowa (105) |
| Record | 16-6 | 11-11 |
| Pnt / Poss | 1.088 | 1.096 (47) |
| Def Pnt / Poss | 0.939 | 1.020 |
| Off eFG% | 52.3% | 49.9% |
| Def eFG% | 47.3% | 51.8% (275) |
| Off Reb % | 35.3% | 32.7% |
| Def Reb % | 67.3% | 67.7% |
| TO % | 21.5% | 17.8% (29) |
This Iowa team does not defend very well, they are OK at rebounding and they do not turn the ball over. But what those numbers don't show is that this team works pretty hard and at least when we played before they wanted the W more than we did.
Now I think that the Gophers are a completely different team than they were last time around, so I'm not that worried about tonight's game. I think we win and I think we win by double-digits. I sure hope my confidence pays off because this game has to be a win.
This is not a "must win" game but is absolutely is a "can't lose" game. If you want to make the NCAA Tournament you absolutely cannot be swept by Iowa. If you want to get taken seriously you win this game. Dropping one or two games to teams that you shouldn't will occasionally happen, but lightning cannot strike twice in this case.
Get the win!
105 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Hummm...
RSIII starting? I suppose he has to with Elliason out. It will be interesting to see how long Tubby stays with him or if Oto will get a lot of playing time in the smaller lineup.
He will start every game this year
Adjustments to his time won’t be made before the tip off.
Welch is struggling
And I forgot how much trouble their d gave us.
I'm about 10 minutes behind
So far quite bad, but easy’s comments may medicate improve,ent.
Down 1
Playing much better after a very poor offensive start. Turnovers on press break and missed shots got us way down.
Iowa running the same thing they did at the Barn?
How’s Ralph doing considering we’ve given up what the box says is half of infinity in rebounds
yeah but let's be honestr
ralph’s box has nothing to do with how much crap he is every so often. Elliot only scored 5 against Illinois and yet him coming on was what effectively saved us. How’s he doing on the boards?
He's doing well
Not sure about boards, but they don’t have he kind of big guy that takes him out of games.
He has been good
It was poor passing by the guards that got us down, now the smartened up and we started to hit shots, especially RW. We took the lead.
Not as much 2-3
But some. Zone is what shut us down the first time
Ralph was almost the only one to score
In the first tn mins
Not much from Joe
In the frost half. A few turnovers is all I noticed.
Have to make up for
Nit calling anything in the first half.
Typical big ten officiating. Gotta meet the quota.
Will not call th travel though
24 walked on two consecutive drives without a call
This game has had a striking resembalance to our b1g season
Awful, awful start. Playing w/confidence now. Iowa looks like us at the start of the half, let’s hope we can bury ’em.
Yup
To their credit, their d has disrupted us a lot, both an and zone. But like the rest f our year we seem to be figuring it out.
I'm a little behind again
But how do the announcers not realize that taking 10 seconds before starting ou offense isnt bad when you lead?
Also, I guess hey haven’t seen Elliott p,at before because I can’t tell he’s hurting.
Don't like us playing 2-3
We shouldn’t invite gatens and oglsby to shoot threes.
Less whine though
So far. As an upperclassman he might get there.
Really inconsistent officiating
Called nothing, then everything, then nothing. Now back to everything.
Who would have thought
We’d be up on shooting threes.
Ralph!!
Turnover on bringing the ball dwn in the last two minutes???
Very little Mav tonight.
I blame GN
Fir predicting double digit victory ;)
Gonna settle the boat here:
next to 2 games against Nebraska and Wisconsin are both winnable. The Gophers are (once again) with their backs to the wall for the next week. Losing to Iowa twice sucks. Being 6-6 in the Big 10 is very good.
also what the hell was Tubby thinking putting Ralph back on the court
it doesn’t matter how good he is of a point guard. His job is to be a center. The Gopher’s D goes to crap whenever he’s on the court. The defensive execution is what killed us in this game. We made some clutch 3’s (don’t know why the heck they stopped working to get open ones) and worked well for 25 mins.
I think people’s expectations were ballooning after we got hot. Thankfully I managed to keep mine low. As a Minnesota sports fan, aka a sadist, I am unfortunately growing much too used to this outcome.
Didnt get to watch this one
cant lose to Iowa twice though, they are crap this year. Looks like we lost this on the offensive glass and by hacking everyone.
I always say it
But the officiating was terrible. We hacked no more than them.
We lost by not knowing what to do against their pressure d, especially at the start.
And Ralph turning it over at the end by making a freshman mistake and being weak.
Meh officiating
would have liked the charging call for Elliot (who clearly got into position and took it) on the last dump off before the pass that gave them a 4 point lead but who knows. Tough call. Realistically, this one came down in the last few minutes to poor work. Defensively they were weak as heck inside (cough cough Ralph) and were giving up too many points in transition off of turnovers (cough cough Ralph)
On the offensive side, they didn’t stick to what had gottem a lead late on: wide open 3s. I know its not our forte but honestly its better then the shots they were taking. Specifically, Welch’s weird jump shot on the second to last possession where he had a kickout option of Austin having drawn in the help.
Agree on officiating
But we didn’t lose on interior d. And Ralph wasn’t the only one turning it over.
We need to score more than we did.
We did have a 10 point lead in the second half right?
Or was the boxscore I was following wrong about that too?
we did
and we even made some 3s down the stretch. However, they fell apart defensively. Also officially Ralph had 3 rebounds.
3 rebounds is not bad when he's averaging 2
but is pretty damn pathetic when you are close to a 7 footer starting at center in your senior year.
well its not even the rebounds (though thats huge)
its his lack of defensive presence. The help is late, the opposing front court is having its way, and outside of a couple of blocks, the opposing guards are making layups on him (Lewis Jackson, Brandon Paul and so on). Elliot should be playing about what he did when Ralph himself was injured ie about 30 mins. That was honestly when they played the best basketball (or as good of basketball as you’re gonna play without Mbakwe).
by Sportsavenue on Feb 1, 2012 10:04 PM CST up reply actions
The opposing front court
Was largely irrelevant.
And the penetrating guards are the guards responsibility.
Try to stick to criticizing him for things he’s supposed to do.
I'd agree
except when Elliot is on the court, both problems are incredibly mitigated. The opposing frontcourt also scored half of the points so largely irrelevant would be overstating it. The biggest problem is that Ralph kept on getting outmanned for the bleeping rebound which on multiple occasions gave Iowa second chances.
by Sportsavenue on Feb 1, 2012 10:22 PM CST up reply actions
Did Ralph really ave zero rebounds?
I might have to revise my prediction that he will continue to start. Come on man.
honestly, after watching the last 10 mins
he really might not. The last time I saw him come even close the ball ended up tipped out of bounds off him on defense
that's what I mean
and its on Tubby for playing him. The Illinois game changed on Ralph being replaced with Elliot. Today that substitution didn’t happen till it was too late and Ralph had burned us. Can’t wait for him to graduate.
That's going too far
Although he screwed up at the end.
I really don't think so
its a different team with him sitting. Sure, you lose a shooting weapon but they are so much better defensively. Ralph sucks energy from the team. It isn’t just the end of this game. Its both games against Illinois where Meyers Leonard turned him inside out (including the first one. 20+ points is great and all but giving up 45 is not worth it). Its in Indiana where Cody Zellar brought Indiana right back into the game with 20 seconds to go by outmanning Ralph on a flipping inbounds pass. Its at Michigan State where he gave up half a million ORebs. Now its both games against Iowa.
Unfortunetly for the Gophers
their hands are tied after the Mbakwe injury. Sampson might not be ideal but our options are limited. Ingram? I’m not sure Elliot is ready to play 35+ minutes either.
True for Illinois and michigan state
But that’s not what happened tonight. Or last time against Iowa.
Yes at a very basic level it is
the Gophers lost the glass game in a close one and it ended up costing them. Their were far too many second chance opportunites (Iowa had a 6+ advantage on orebs) and Ralph was late getting over far too many times. You’re right, this is a different game. It is much more similar to the homegame against Purdue’s second half (the post 3 points drowning). Rather, the guards were driving in and were taking it right to the basket. Ralph was late in helping far too many times. Defensively he’s weak as crap.
by Sportsavenue on Feb 1, 2012 10:22 PM CST up reply actions
We scored 59 points
We lost on offense, not defense.
which is great
but in no way makes up for the 20+ points he gave up.
by Sportsavenue on Feb 1, 2012 10:34 PM CST up reply actions
The Gophers are better with Elliot on
to be honest, the fact that Ralph was the lead scorer probably emphasizes a problem with how they played the last few minutes. Instead of turning to a hot hand (and there were several) for 3s, they tried to force it inside. It didn’t work.
by Sportsavenue on Feb 1, 2012 10:35 PM CST up reply actions
I'll quote somebody else on how to some up Ralph
“1:55 – Hollins (the bad one) misses another three, leading to a monster dunk right in Ralph’s effeminate, tentative face to tie the game at 59. This blows ass.”
by Sportsavenue on Feb 1, 2012 10:39 PM CST up reply actions
I like how you know
What happened when you weren’t watching.
But the “hot hand” you mention wasn’t showing at the beginning,and bad entry passes hardly suggest poor strategy.
That's not right
And you didn’t watch the game. Stop pretending like you can sum it up based on the lady few minutes.
ok you know what
we disagree. You take Ralph. I take Elliot. I got to watch it (as I noted above) from the 2nd tv timeout in the second half in so about a third to a fourth. What I saw was the exact same as what I saw in its entirety during the Gophers loss to Iowa at home which I had the displeasure of enjoying in person. If you wanna say this isn’t on Ralph, you’re right. Its a team game & the Gophers guards looked scared and confused for long periods. However, Ralph got taken off with a minute to go for a reason. He is the worse of two not so great options and in a close game, that’s really what matters. Also, the comment above comes from Down With Goldy so it was never going to be a bastion of moderation.
Just so we're clear
I’d take both of them. Neither is a complete player and it’s the coaches job to maximize their combined production, as he’s been trying to do.
Now we gotta win one that we were expected to lose
lot tougher to do that than beat a shit team like Iowa.
Gophs sched
Winnable: Nebraska, v Wisconsin, @Northwestern, v Indiana, &v Nebraska
Not gonna happen: V Ohio State, v Michigan State, & Wisconsin
If the Gophers can play to their true abilities, they can still get in. 21 Wins is make it. 20 wins (with the least likely being Wisconsin) and they’re probably NIT. We’ve used up our good graces on two losses to ####ing Iowa. Now they can’t afford an upset.Go Gophs
Don't know how that happened
Winnable: @Neb, v Wisco, @ NW, v Indie, vNeb
Not gonna happen, v OSU, v Sparty, @ Wisco
by Sportsavenue on Feb 1, 2012 10:42 PM CST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on The Daily Gopher
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
