And Gopher basketball has a winning streak again. We are 3-1 in our last 4 games, remember when we started 1-3 and the sky was falling on The Barn? We are now 3-3 in the Big Ten and have probably our toughest games behind us.
Nobody had time to review the Iowa game but it was a game where the Gophers played really well at times and then we went long stretches where we played awful (Iowa fans may say the opposite but they are terrible and this isn't an Iowa site so...). We shot 2/10 from behind the arc and while the box score says we only had 11 turnovers it seemed like a lot more. But we held Iowa to 37% shootings, out-rebounded them by 10 and got to the free throw line 37 times which made the difference because we made 27 of them.
Austin Hollins had probably his best game as a Gopher scoring 7 points in 8 minutes. A couple of those buckets were really vital (pictured) when the game was still in the balance. Mbakwe was back to his double-double ways. And Ralph Sampson III blocked 7 shots. And if I told you that the team only made two 3-pointers would you believe they came from Al Nolen? This team really came together after an awful start to the second half, pushed the lead back up and won by 10.
Up next is Michigan who is incredibly streaky. They took Kansas to overtime and played Ohio State to within 4 at home. But then they were blown out by Indiana. They also have to face Northwestern today so we'll get an extra day of rest (which is good because we've got 5 guys who are playing 32+ minutes lately). A road game but we have to win some games on the road.
- Gopher Hockey split their series with UND this weekend. We won game 1 but didn't fare as well on game 2. Coach Lucia says there was a "lot of blah tonight."
- Gopher Men's and Women's Swimming/Diving beat Missouri and are both ranked.
- Myron tell us about the senior leadership being provided Gopher basketball through their rough start to the season.
- Rumor has it the Dairy Queen Classic will not be played in the Metrodome, it will be moved to Arizona.
- Gopher Football picked up a new (walk-on) commit, hosted a big recruit and lost one. Ernie Heffert is a DE from Bemidji and will walk on with the Gophers. Arrington Jenkins is a three-star LB who was previously about to commit to Florida State and he liked his visit. And Cameron Brown, the three-star receiver from Texas has decided to re-open his recruiting process. This is too bad, I was just doing some research on Brown and I was looking forward to him as a Gopher.
- And this game was a win-win for us. Purdue traveled to West Virginia and lost. But the WVU win will boost their overall profile which means out WVU win on an neutral court will boost our overall profile.