CJ: Louisville basketball, like most, didn't see Minnesota's shooting coming

BleedGopher

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per the Courier Journal:

Chris Mack bent over at the waist as if absorbing a sucker punch to the stomach.

He could not have seen it coming. The University of Louisville men’s basketball coach had prepared his players to crowd the paint at the expense of perimeter defense, all but inviting the Minnesota Gophers to try their luck at long-distance launching, when suddenly the gang that couldn’t shoot straight became masters of marksmanship.

“I thought we did a good job of scouting, a good job of preparing for them,” U of L forward Dwayne Sutton said after an 86-76 loss eliminated the Cardinals from the NCAA Tournament. “I just feel like they made some tough shots.”

Minnesota freshman Gabe Kalscheur was the primary culprit, sinking eight field goals -- five of them three-pointers – in a 24-point performance. Kalscheur prompted Mack’s stooped-over reaction with a three-point shot in the third minute of Thursday’s second half, and the improbable Jordan Murphy did it again with a three-pointer 5:28 before the final buzzer.

Minnesota had ranked 336th out of 351 Division I schools in three-point field goals made this season. Murphy had played 113 minutes last week without sinking a single one. Yet the 10th-seeded Gophers played persuasively against type and on target at the Wells Fargo Arena. They left Mack stooped over so often that you might have thought he was scouring the floor for a lost contact lens.

The Gophers sank 11 three-pointers in all, one short of their season high and one more than they had totaled in three games during the Big Ten Tournament last week.

“Tough thing when you know their identity is built around the paint and they make some shots like they did today,” Mack said.

“Emotionally it’s draining, it’s frustrating,” said U of L captain Christen Cunningham. “(But) They got hot. That’s what happens.”

https://www.courier-journal.com/sto...aten-minnesotas-unlikely-shooters/3232691002/

Go Gophers!!
 

Thanks Bleed. I always like hearing what the media says about our opponents after the game.
 




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