Post game notes following FSU win-Pitino says it was the most patient and toughest...

he's seen the Gophers play all year.

Here are my notes (once again, not verbatim, typed live as they talk):

Dre Mathieu
• We gave a lot of freedom, he (Pitino) says if you see the shot, go out and shoot it. That's why I came here, because of the system and coach gives us the freedom.
• On the size differentiation - Our speed is definitive an advantage, we'll outrun you.
• I had to make a play and got out of reach around his arm, that was a big bucket, I made a play, I've been making plays my whole life.

Austin Hollins
• Our system is a lot different, I've had 2 great coaches, but they are just different. I think it's a different style of play, our confidence is much higher this year - running and gunning, setting ball screens, etc.
• As a player the freedom we get boosts our confidence
• On how they won - Toughness, we just played hard, diving on the floor for loose balls and boxing out
• On his monster alley-oop in comparison to Rodney - It felt good. I don't think I can keep up with Rodney.
• I've been trying to use my athleticism as much as possible

Richard Pitino:
• Really proud of the guys to have this type of effort, the best thing we did was controlling the tempo of the game, we only turned it over 6 times to their 17. Out of all the games that we played, that was the toughest we've played. We won the loose ball battle 7-2. That's a very good team, an NCAA tournament team.
• Mathieu against 7'3' - he was frustrating me, I said how many times are you going to get blocked? He played great defensively. We did a great job of getting to the foul line. We were only -4 on the glass and we were in foul trouble. They are so physical.
• On Brad Steven's advice - he helped me out, he told me, if I didn't call him I would have stayed in Maui for an extra day or two, so we took a red eye back, gave them off Thanksgiving. We were smart about not wearing them out, the times they were practicing.
• Offensively, we didn't get out of control. We were patient tonight, that was the most patient we've been all year. We didn't trap a whole lot, and had them turn it over 17 times.
• Now I know why so many people say this can be one of the biggest home court advantages in college basketball. To rely on that type of a crowd is something we don't take for granted.
• You look at some of the stats, they shot 47% and we shot 34% you say -how so we win this game? TO's and free throws. Things weren't going great for us offensively. We found a way to control the tempo as big as possible.
• We didn't do a good job in Maui coming out in the 2nd half. I told the guys if you don't come out more aggressive than you have in the past, they'll jump you. We held them off.
• In the time of the week, if you have 3 days of practice, you'll do a little the 1st day, more the 2nd...one team will be FSU defensively, and we'll give them a play to run. If you stop it too much, you're not simulating the game as well as you should.
• We've got to be smart with their legs, we'll give them off tomorrow, and we play Saturday. We'll shorten the practice, we practice 3 hours, but legitimately practice 1.5 hours.
• Maverick will get dental work tomorrow, 1/2 of it is gone.

What was the story to Brad Steven's advice?

Was that Ed Hightower reffing, I thought he was retiring???? That crew was brutal.

It was indeed Hightower. If the Gophers had lost, I believe he would have needed an armed escort out of the building.

Thanks for the quotes, Nadine.

I wonder how other fans feel about Hightower, I feel like the hatred of Ed goes as far back as the Dutcher days. Also is he on Rogane? Doesn't look as grey or bald, why I wasn't sure it was him until those infuriating ticky tac fouls.

SWMNGOPHER said:

What was the story to Brad Steven's advice?

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I believe I heard something about him telling Pitino to get out of Maui right away after their last game. Not 100% sure though

bemidjigopher said:

Was that Ed Hightower reffing, I thought he was retiring???? That crew was brutal.

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Retiring at the end of the month, I believe

Tonight, I was 3 rows behind Rich Pit. It's maybe something that doesn't matter to most, but when Mav was taken off the floor, Rich was all over the tooth situation. He screamed "Does he have his tooth?!!" When nobody knew, Rich grabbed a ball boy and made him go out and look. They found it.

Detail.

Oriented.

joshvanklomp said:

I believe I heard something about him telling Pitino to get out of Maui right away after their last game. Not 100% sure though

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Get in early; get out early. Same things the Vikes did for the England trip, and they played a good game there.

The officiating brought back memories of a lot of poorly officiated games from the past; it was almost nostalgic in that respect. But I don't know if I've seen calls any worse than some of the ones tonight, including a couple that aided the Gophs. The goaltends: how do you not call or see that? I start to wonder how many officials even understand the new handcheck emphasis. It seems to me that they're just calling more fouls, being more sensitive to contact in general. In a couple situations the players were simply playing excellent defense. Neither Elliott, Mo nor #25 from FSU would have fouled out if those situations were called correctly.

Florida State is pretty well coached. Once they made that adjustment in the last 10 minutes, the Gophers did well to hold them off. FSU kept running that same play over and over, where the ball handler drives around to the baseline, around the screen and draws the center as a defender because his primary defender's been screened. That opens up the post to cutting / accepting a pass. Finally the Gophers made an adjustment themselves, and that might have been the difference in the game. It even worked when Joey had to move to the 5 after the bigs fouled out. He and Oto played great team defense with their feet in crunch time. I'm very impressed.

Lil' Dre is a very different player than Bobby Jackson, but he has some Jackson in him. He's one cool customer.

Charles Buggs has to have earned some more playing time tonight. He played solid defense on the perimeter to overcome the height matchup problem the Gophers were struggling with.

bemidjigopher said:

Was that Ed Hightower reffing, I thought he was retiring???? That crew was brutal.

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As mentioned, at the end of the month...perhaps our last Hightower game?
http://www.theintelligencer.com/local_sports/article_cf6d444a-cf1c-11e2-a75f-001a4bcf887a.html

SWMNGOPHER said:

What was the story to Brad Steven's advice?

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Pat Donnelly from 1500 does a good job of telling the story he talked about on his weekly show here -->

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/..._undersized_Gophers_prevail_for_big_win120413

You've got to love Pitino ripping off his sport coat and tie. That was awesome!

You've got to love Pitino ripping off his sport coat and tie. That was awesome!

Fan of Blake Hoffarber said:

You've got to love Pitino ripping off his sport coat and tie. That was awesome!

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It's a start but Clem was much more entertaining.

GopherLady said:

As mentioned, at the end of the month...perhaps our last Hightower game?

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I swear to god, if you just jinxed it...

GopherLady said:

Pat Donnelly from 1500 does a good job of telling the story he talked about on his weekly show here -->

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/..._undersized_Gophers_prevail_for_big_win120413

Donnelly Article said:

I thought it was awesome. Now I know why so many people say this could be one of the best home-court advantages in all of college basketball," Pitino said. "They were great, and I think we may not have played with as much energy if we didn't have that crowd behind us. Our fans were awesome. To be able to have that type of a crowd night in and night out is something that we don't take for granted. "

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Don't disappoint Minnesota. We might stumble and struggle this year, but there will be MANY MANY more moments like that fantastic play between Deandre and Austin, be there to sound like you did last night. I would if I could....

Good recap. So Richard now has his dad, Billy Donovan, and Brad Stevens on speed dial for advice. I love it.

I really hope Buggs gets some significant playing time in these last few games before conference play, I really think he could become a solid rotation guy. The game seems to be slowing down for him and we could really use his athleticism and length. I'm much more high on him than Wally right now. Wally seems to only look for his own shot when he is out there. He's already had at least 2 or 3 long jumpers swatted because he was forcing the shot. He doesn't seem to be too much of a team player, hopefully that changes.

Bad Gopher said:

Charles Buggs has to have earned some more playing time tonight. He played solid defense on the perimeter to overcome the height matchup problem the Gophers were struggling with.

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Hopefully Buggs earned some playing time, the Gopher need another big body down low especially if games are going to be called that way all season.

On the post-game interview with 1500, Pitino said that the team's goal every game is to make more FTs than the other team shoots. Last night we made 28 FTs and FSU attempted 29. I thought that was a really interesting take and perspective - it will be difficult to achieve that night in and night out, but I love the philosophy.

Go Gophers!!

BleedGopher said:

On the post-game interview with 1500, Pitino said that the team's goal every game is to make more FTs than the other team shoots. Last night we made 28 FTs and FSU attempted 29. I thought that was a really interesting take and perspective - it will be difficult to achieve that night in and night out, but I love the philosophy.

Go Gophers!!

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I heard that, too, and thought it was interesting. Pitino has said that they want to shoot the three. Why? Because there's no four-point shot. But this quote indicates that he wants to be aggressive driving and passing into the paint as well. So what I hear in all this is them seeking a balanced offense.

Which brings me to a point I was thinking about after the game. In order for Deandre to realize what he can be for this team, our bigs need to make themselves available for a pass off his penetration and then of course know what to do with it. Otherwise, the PG's only passing option from penetration is a pass back outside, which we're seeing repeatedly. Elliott and Mo are going to get a lot of scoring opportunities with this caliber of point guard, but they're not holding up their end of it so far. With Mo's mobility, he should be doing more to cut, get open and handle passes...and then finish, for pete's sake.

Mo has good hands so I was dissapointed he was getting good passes and not converting them. The team needs to get used to Deandre penetrating and getting other scoring chances inside, the likes of which we haven't seen since Nolen used up his eligibility.
Shooting more free throws then the other team shoots was something Bob Knight and Indiana used to say, and also handed down to coach K at Duke. A smart but aggressive offensive player is hard to stop.

Bad Gopher said:

I heard that, too, and thought it was interesting. Pitino has said that they want to shoot the three. Why? Because there's no four-point shot. But this quote indicates that he wants to be aggressive driving and passing into the paint as well. So what I hear in all this is them seeking a balanced offense.

Which brings me to a point I was thinking about after the game. In order for Deandre to realize what he can be for this team, our bigs need to make themselves available for a pass off his penetration and then of course know what to do with it. Otherwise, the PG's only passing option from penetration is a pass back outside, which we're seeing repeatedly. Elliott and Mo are going to get a lot of scoring opportunities with this caliber of point guard, but they're not holding up their end of it so far. With Mo's mobility, he should be doing more to cut, get open and handle passes...and then finish, for pete's sake.

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Mo has stones for hands and the reaction time of an infant.... Hopefully those improve to capitalize on exactly what you outlined.

Winasota Gopher said:

Mo has stones for hands and the reaction time of an infant.... Hopefully those improve to capitalize on exactly what you outlined.

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He actually displayed very good hands for a man his size when he first started playing here. How many game minutes has he had over the last two years? You think that might have anything to do with it before you give your snarky description of his abilities?

Bad Gopher said:

I heard that, too, and thought it was interesting. Pitino has said that they want to shoot the three. Why? Because there's no four-point shot. But this quote indicates that he wants to be aggressive driving and passing into the paint as well. So what I hear in all this is them seeking a balanced offense.

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We all know that if there was a 4 point shot Malik would be all over that. He loves the deep ball, and I wish Pitino gave him a longer leash to throw them up

march madness said:

Mo has good hands so I was dissapointed he was getting good passes and not converting them. The team needs to get used to Deandre penetrating and getting other scoring chances inside, the likes of which we haven't seen since Nolen used up his eligibility.
Shooting more free throws then the other team shoots was something Bob Knight and Indiana used to say, and also handed down to coach K at Duke. A smart but aggressive offensive player is hard to stop.

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Which reminds me that part of his coaching tree is, of course, at Northwestern and much, much too early to compare, but really haven't beaten a decent team yet.

Thugunin said:

I wish Pitino gave him a longer leash to throw them up

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How exactly could he possibly give Malik a longer leash? He let him shoot multiple 3s at the logo in Maui, he's said multiple times that if Malik works hard and plays good D he will get solid minutes. He has a VERY long leash (and I am happy about it)

fryguy22 said:

How exactly could he possibly give Malik a longer leash? He let him shoot multiple 3s at the logo in Maui, he's said multiple times that if Malik works hard and plays good D he will get solid minutes. He has a VERY long leash (and I am happy about it)

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Agreed. Not sure how Pitino could give him any longer of a leash. He jacks up a ton of shots (sometimes resulting in air balls) and doesn't get pulled for it. I think his leash is plenty long.

Mulligan said:

He actually displayed very good hands for a man his size when he first started playing here. How many game minutes has he had over the last two years? You think that might have anything to do with it before you give your snarky description of his abilities?

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Waoh, did I sh1t in your Wheaties or something?

Fact or fiction? Mo has difficulty handling passes that are thrown to him on dishes/lobs/anything other than a perfect feed?

Did I say Mo sucks? Did I say he should be benched? Did I say he didn't have good hands when he got here (debatable)? Fact is the guy lacks touch and finesse, its his biggest flaw, and 'Dre isn't going to have him to rely on for his drive and dish unless he works hard on it.

Disagree with that statement?

The snarkiness, not sure why it offends you, this IS a message board, snarkiness is a prereq, was part of the terms agreement when you signed up.

Winasota Gopher said:

Waoh, did I sh1t in your Wheaties or something?

Fact or fiction? Mo has difficulty handling passes that are thrown to him on dishes/lobs/anything other than a perfect feed?

Did I say Mo sucks? Did I say he should be benched? Did I say he didn't have good hands when he got here (debatable)? Fact is the guy lacks touch and finesse, its his biggest flaw, and 'Dre isn't going to have him to rely on for his drive and dish unless he works hard on it.

Disagree with that statement?

The snarkiness, not sure why it offends you, this IS a message board, snarkiness is a prereq, was part of the terms agreement when you signed up.

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1. "the reaction time of an infant"
2. So, how many game minutes in the last two years? And do you think that might have something to do with some of his mistakes? Fact or fiction, did you answer those questions?
3. Where did I accuse you of saying that Mo sucks?

Love it when people go after Gopher athletes in an unfair way, but get all hurt when challenged on it.

Mulligan said:

1. "the reaction time of an infant" Is this a question?
2. So, how many game minutes in the last two years? And do you think that might have something to do with some of his mistakes? Fact or fiction, did you answer those questions? Irrelevant to my original statement, so I neglected your question, but to answer, he has played 0 minutes the last two year which is likely a contributing factor to him being unable to catch a quick dish or a pass with significant pace on it
3. Where did I accuse you of saying that Mo sucks? You didn't I was trying to understand why you were getting defensive?

Love it when people go after Gopher athletes in an unfair way, but get all hurt when challenged on it.

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I didn't go after Mo man. He has flaws, and I stated that he had to work on them. End of story, I'm not upset, I'm just curious as to why you got so defensive about Mo. He's working hard, and needs to continue so we can utilize 'Dre to the fullest.

Mo's new nickname is hands