Crazy Gopher stats.

Three-Point Shooting: Despite an NCAA record for most 3-pointers made in the PSU game without a miss (9-9) the Gophers managed to finish dead last in Big Ten games in 3-point percentage at only .312 (93-298). Exclude the PSU game and the percentage is .291 (84-289).

Rebound Margin: Think the Gophers were a crappy rebounding team? Think again as they finished second in the Big Ten at +3.3. That's a full 7.8 less than leader Michigan State (+11.1), but still more than a full rebound a game better than third place Wisconsin (+2.1).

Turnover Margin: Despite leading the Big Ten in steals a game at 7.78 (NU second at 7.53), the Gophers finished ninth in the conference in turnover margin (-1.11).

Defensive shooting Percentages: Yet another oddity. The Gophers finished second only to Illinois (.394) in holding Big Ten opponents to a .408 shooting percentage, yet finished well down the list at eight in defending the 3-pointer at .368.

Misc.: Besides leading the Big Ten in steals, they also lead in blocked shots at 5.44/game (Purdue second at 4.71) and free throw shooting at .750

That's good stuff Mikie. The question is - are our shooters that bad or is our offense (players + scheme) not getting them the looks that they can be confident about making?

With regards to defense it would be interesting to take a look at opponents points per shot as compared to other teams. While our overall FG % defense is very good your effectiveness goes down in a hurry if you give up three point shots.

The big concern is that we are now aobut to stake our tournament lives against the possibly the best threee point shooting team in the Big Ten. Let's hope we do something different.

Thanks MS. Good quants on the season.

Having watched at least half of the games this season, I’m not too surprised at the 3pt stat. The PSU game really set expectations at level that were not to be sustained. So, I like others was pretty frustrated that that part of the game never came back.

I posted a time or two about how poorly rebounding (especially on the O end) was for the team. I don’t have the stats, but it seemed like this is one area where the team got better as the season progressed.

Turnovers were obviously a killer all year.

Overall D shooting ranking is a small surprise to me, only given that quality of defense in the conference was generally pretty good. Not surprised at all by the 3pt defense - Michigan game still being fresh in my mind.

I for one, am definitely surprised by the conf lead in FT %. Never really had my eye on it, but wouldn’t have thought it.

The stats certainly point out the specific challenges the team needs to address for next year!

Are these stats for the entire year or only for the Big Ten season? That would make a big difference.