Gophers Defeat South Dakota St. 88-64

Well then. This game was never really in doubt. I'm going to go with some quick general takes on the game since...ya know...blowout.

Good Stuff:

- Andre Hollins was a beast in the first half. He started the game 6-6 from 3 and 7-7 from the floor. That's kinda ok I guess. He had 20 points at the half and finished with 22.

- The Gophers 3 point shooting. It tailed off a bit as the game went on, but there was a stretch when they were shooting 50%. Their final tally was still a very solid 45.5% (10-22). In addition to Andre's 6 treys, Austin Hollins hit 3 of 7, and Oto hit his first 3 of the year (finishing 1 of 1). One disappointment was that Julian Welch went 0 for 4.

- Another strong defensive performance. The Gophers were very active again on the defensive end of the floor. This lead to many deflections and steals. They also did a pretty good job contesting shots (something previous teams have struggled with at times, to my great annoyance). SDSU had 18 turnovers, which is 8 above their normal average.

- Continued balanced scoring. The Gophers had 3 players finish in double digits (Dre - 22; Austin - 17; Joe - 15). Rodney Williams only had 2 points and looked a little flustered at times but it didn't matter. Andre Ingram contributed a nice 6 points (including a longer jumper) in the first half.

- Trevor almost had a double-double. He finished with 8 points and 10 boards. He played with energy and intensity as well. Not sure on total minutes. The plan to work him back slowly continues to look good.

- Kendal Shell had a career high 4 points. Love it when the walk-ons get in on a rout.

Not So Good Stuff:

- Defensive rebounding was lacking again. 10 of the 22 rebounds SDSU collected were offensive boards. There were many examples of weak or non-existent box-out attempts by the Gophers. If it wasn't already a concern I might chalk it up to lower intensity due to the big lead. But given that it fits a pattern, that's not something I think we can do here. That said, the Gophers did outrebound SDSU 34-22 while collecting 11 offensive boards of their own.

- Less than stellar FT shooting. The Gophers improved quite a bit down the stretch to reach 60% (12 of 20). But earlier in the game they were down into the 30%-40% range.

- Silly turnovers still there. The Gophers finished the game with 13. Granted, it's really easy to get sloppy in a blowout. But just like the rebounding, it's not good to see a bad trend continued when the opportunity is there to cut it out against an inferior team. Rodney was the worst offender with 3.

All in all, a solid if unspectacular win for the Gophers. Even if Nate Wolters had played, this is a game the Gophers win by 10-15, no question. Next up? The USC Trojans. Another game most folks won't be able to see. Goodie!