***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA VS TEMPLE IN-GAME THREAD***

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bobmartinfan said:
I put some blame on the coach. Murphy lost the three rebounds and Konate was on the bench. Konate should have been in the game for Defense and rebounding. Finally after Murphy gives up THREE offensive rebounds late in the game then the coach puts in Konate after the outcome was determined. We are young on the court and on the sideline. I hope they all can get better. It's hard to look forward to next year after game#3
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Take heart- the kids are going to get better. Once shots start falling for the three main frosh (and Gilbert later) and they gain their confidence we will be much better off. It's going to be a tough year but we are going to get better and you will see how bright the future is before it's over.
 

60's Guy said:
We can't score...not much else matters until you can score. We were even in rebounding. 19 field goals won't win many games at this level. We are not going to shoot 81% from the line too often...we are not going to get 32 attempts and 26 of our points from the line very often. Konate had 11 that's encouraging. Joey can't have off off days. One rebound and 3 of 9 shooting won't work. Not sure what Morris has to do for some of you? 16 points on 5 of 11 shooting is not horrible. Remember it's really the first real game for the freshmen...they'll improve. Tough game for them especially to figure out the refs.
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Maybe I'm knit picking but Carlos was 0/4 on runners and turned it over on another when he got stuck in the air.
 

Missouri State off to a rough start

0-2.

Lost to Oral Roberts by 15 in its opener, just got blitzed by a good Butler team, 93-59.

Picked to finish 7th in the MVC by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.
 

SelectionSunday said:
0-2.

Lost to Oral Roberts by 15 in its opener, just got blitzed by a good Butler team, 93-59.

Picked to finish 7th in the MVC by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.
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So you're telling me we've got a chance. ;)
 

Only got to watch the 1st half and thought the Gophers were playing pretty decent then. Mason was in control when he was on the floor in the 1st half and when he went to the bench Temple made a run. Also liked the way Buggs was playing again and hope we continue to see improvement from him. Was hopeful we could pull out a win today but also really felt like it was a toss up game and Temple isn't a bad team at all. Need to take care of business tomorrow and Sunday and come away from Puerto Rico with 2 more wins.
 


Goldy Gopher said:
Was hopeful we could pull out a win today but also really felt like it was a toss up game and Temple isn't a bad team at all.
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Watching the game, I had the sense that these were two teams of very similar ranking. Before the season started I would have been fine with this team being relatively about as good as Temple. I also posted a couple of weeks ago that I would be OK with them losing this first game because they would have a better chance of picking up 2 wins in the losers' bracket. I would be surprised if Temple beats Butler or Miami or Utah in its remaining games.

There were some positives in the game today:

With some more games under his belt, Bakary looks like he can be at least as good as an average center in the Big Ten. I understand why Pitino wanted to limit his minutes and why he chose a smaller lineup most of the time against a team without great size like Temple, but Minnesota seemed to be a better team when Bakary was on the floor today.

The Gophers drew a lot of fouls today and their free throw shooting was good once again. Unfortunately for Joey, his fakes didn't seem to work quite so well against Temple.

11 turnovers really isn't so bad but they could have cut that in half by just avoiding some very avoidable mental mistakes like stepping out of bounds three times and trying some inadvisable passes.

Once again, Buggs was pretty good on defense.

Interior defense was mostly good. Partially because of that emphasis a defender was usually late getting to the three point shooter. The team held their own on rebounding.

The three freshman who played today look like average Big Ten freshman. They look good enough to play and contribute but none of them at this point looks capable of making the kid of impact Mason made a freshman.
 

Bad Gopher said:
So you're telling me we've got a chance. ;)
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Yes. After watching today, I'd say a decent chance in the third game, too. After going 1-2 in holiday tournaments over the last two seasons, I'd be pretty happy with a 2-1 finish.
 

station19 said:
Basicly no inside presence.

Collected plenty of ft's and made a high percentage.......till the end of game.
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Konate was very definitely an inside presence in this game. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to play most of it.
 

More bummed than I should be about this game. I didn't expect the Gophers to win today at tip off, but watching the game it sure felt like a game the
Gophers win ~7 out of 10 or so, but found a way to lose. There weren't too many parallel's to last year, but Seniors making mistakes in key situations was one.

First Half: The easy buckets in transition that were missed by Buggs and Murphy (Murphy dropped the pass) loomed large. Those four of the easiest points we were going to get all day, and Temple didn't blow a single similar opportunity all game.

Second Half: Not one, not two, but THREE possessions ended with the Gophers stepping on the sideline! This was a similarity to recent Gopher teams who seem to lead the nation in completely unforced turnovers. Gophers had a couple terrible breaks too including a horrific foul call on Murphy on a loose ball and an airball 3 by Temple which lead to Konate's 4th foul.

Worst play of the game: It's been mentioned in this thread already, but King passing up of the open 3 to try a wild "draw the foul" shot was absolutely brutal. Gophers were up 6 at this point and the King decision there lead to a transition 3 the other way. That's a 6 point swing and the Gophers never regained momentum. It would be so much easier to take this loss if it was like McBrayer or Dorsey making that mistake and not a Senior.

Player Notes:

Charles Buggs! Buggs played his best game as a Gopher in my mind, and I felt that way before he had even scored a bucket. He was rebounding more effectively than I ever remember and playing some very solid defense both on and off the ball. If this version of Buggs can continue to show up, that's a legit reason for hope of a better than expected conference finish.

Bakary Konate: Another major bright spot today. Rebounded, blocked shots, and ran the floor. His hands were inconsistent (dropped a nice pass in the first half, caught the one in the second half), but he looked much more comfortable with the ball in his hands. That little righty half hook will be a nice weapon for him, and he's got a nice stroke from the line as well. If Buggs didn't play so well, Konate would have been my pleasant surprise of the day.

Nate Mason: Kept the Gophers in striking distance with his offense in the first half. Seems a little quicker than last year as well as tighter with his handle. He was the Gophers best player today.

Dupree McBrayer: Love the potential of this kid. He came in and had an impact on the defensive end today and his drive and pass to Konate was the type of individual offensive creativity that this team has lacked for a long time. It's a really good sign that even though he's struggled at his strength (scoring the basketball), he's found a way to still impact games positively.

Coaching moment that I liked: Joey King had done nothing in the first half and Coach Pitino comes out and runs a beautiful set play to get King a wide open 3 to start the 2nd half.

Coaching area of concern: Temple was 10-22 from 3 and I am skeptical that they are a good 3 point shooting team. We can chalk it up to Temple having a "lucky" game for now, but since it was an area of concern last year this certainly bears monitoring.

Team area of concern: Bench was 0-8 from the field. As much as I like what I've seen from Dorsey defensively, he was 0-5 from the field and I am not sure he's ready to contribute from a scoring standpoint. He had a wide open 3 while the Gophers still had the lead that could have been the difference between a W and L. We will really need McBrayer and/or Murphy to score going forward.
 



60's Guy said:
We can't score...not much else matters until you can score.
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The big problem was the contrast between their bench scoring and ours. They had 25 points off the bench and we had 6. The three freshmen who played today don't have much offense yet and the fourth bench player was Gaston (who probably never will).
 

EG#9 said:
First Half: The easy buckets in transition that were missed by Buggs and Murphy (Murphy dropped the pass) loomed large.
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If we're thinking of the same pass, I don't agree with you about Murphy's in that situation. I yelled "Don't make that pass!" right before it left the passer's hands. That pass may look good to the player making it but most of the time I've seen that kind of pass (long pass to a defended streaking man right near the basket), it results in a turnover. Temple managed a couple of those but their big man had great hands and could stop on a dime.
 

EG#9 said:
More bummed than I should be about this game. I didn't expect the Gophers to win today at tip off, but watching the game it sure felt like a game the
Gophers win ~7 out of 10 or so, but found a way to lose. There weren't too many parallel's to last year, but Seniors making mistakes in key situations was one.

First Half: The easy buckets in transition that were missed by Buggs and Murphy (Murphy dropped the pass) loomed large. Those four of the easiest points we were going to get all day, and Temple didn't blow a single similar opportunity all game.

Second Half: Not one, not two, but THREE possessions ended with the Gophers stepping on the sideline! This was a similarity to recent Gopher teams who seem to lead the nation in completely unforced turnovers. Gophers had a couple terrible breaks too including a horrific foul call on Murphy on a loose ball and an airball 3 by Temple which lead to Konate's 4th foul.

Worst play of the game: It's been mentioned in this thread already, but King passing up of the open 3 to try a wild "draw the foul" shot was absolutely brutal. Gophers were up 6 at this point and the King decision there lead to a transition 3 the other way. That's a 6 point swing and the Gophers never regained momentum. It would be so much easier to take this loss if it was like McBrayer or Dorsey making that mistake and not a Senior.

Player Notes:

Charles Buggs! Buggs played his best game as a Gopher in my mind, and I felt that way before he had even scored a bucket. He was rebounding more effectively than I ever remember and playing some very solid defense both on and off the ball. If this version of Buggs can continue to show up, that's a legit reason for hope of a better than expected conference finish.

Bakary Konate: Another major bright spot today. Rebounded, blocked shots, and ran the floor. His hands were inconsistent (dropped a nice pass in the first half, caught the one in the second half), but he looked much more comfortable with the ball in his hands. That little righty half hook will be a nice weapon for him, and he's got a nice stroke from the line as well. If Buggs didn't play so well, Konate would have been my pleasant surprise of the day.

Nate Mason: Kept the Gophers in striking distance with his offense in the first half. Seems a little quicker than last year as well as tighter with his handle. He was the Gophers best player today.

Dupree McBrayer: Love the potential of this kid. He came in and had an impact on the defensive end today and his drive and pass to Konate was the type of individual offensive creativity that this team has lacked for a long time. It's a really good sign that even though he's struggled at his strength (scoring the basketball), he's found a way to still impact games positively.

Coaching moment that I liked: Joey King had done nothing in the first half and Coach Pitino comes out and runs a beautiful set play to get King a wide open 3 to start the 2nd half.

Coaching area of concern: Temple was 10-22 from 3 and I am skeptical that they are a good 3 point shooting team. We can chalk it up to Temple having a "lucky" game for now, but since it was an area of concern last year this certainly bears monitoring.

Team area of concern: Bench was 0-8 from the field. As much as I like what I've seen from Dorsey defensively, he was 0-5 from the field and I am not sure he's ready to contribute from a scoring standpoint. He had a wide open 3 while the Gophers still had the lead that could have been the difference between a W and L. We will really need McBrayer and/or Murphy to score going forward.
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Lucky games, more likely a continued issue of bad closing out on three point shooters. Actually that has been a problem since Tubby's days. Lack of quickness or whatever, it has been a huge flaw with Gopher teams.
 

Temple was 309th in 3-point shooting last season

Made only 30.4% from 3.

Of course, today they made 10 and shot 45%.
 



Just watched the replay. I thought we were going to really pull away in the second half. Why did Buggs and Konate sit so long when Temple went on the run to take the lead?

Also, lots of fouls called. That one on Murphy when it was him and another player both going for the ball was ridiculous. Pretty sloppy game overall which is to be expected this early on.

Mason is going to be a stud. Really like the way he plays. He needs to drive to the bucket even more than he does. Great free throw shooter.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Just watched the replay. I thought we were going to really pull away in the second half. Why did Buggs and Konate sit so long when Temple went on the run to take the lead?

Also, lots of fouls called. That one on Murphy when it was him and another player both going for the ball was ridiculous. Pretty sloppy game overall which is to be expected this early on.

Mason is going to be a stud. Really like the way he plays. He needs to drive to the bucket even more than he does. Great free throw shooter.
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Good question about Bakary (Buggs seemed to play a fair number of minutes to me). They really seemed to be a better team when Bakary was in there as Temple didn't have anyone to contend with his size. Maybe Pitino is being cautious because of his foot injury and thought the small lineup would match up fairly well with Temple's fairly small lineup. Unfortunately, their primary big man was more than a match for King and Murphy.

There were a lot of foul calls, but, on the whole, that benefited the Gophers.
 


cjbfbp said:
Good question about Bakary (Buggs seemed to play a fair number of minutes to me). They really seemed to be a better team when Bakary was in there as Temple didn't have anyone to contend with his size. Maybe Pitino is being cautious because of his foot injury and thought the small lineup would match up fairly well with Temple's fairly small lineup. Unfortunately, their primary big man was more than a match for King and Murphy.

There were a lot of foul calls, but, on the whole, that benefited the Gophers.
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Yeah was more surprised about Konate. Although thought he could have brought in Buggs a little sooner.

Didn't mean to say we got a raw deal with the refs. Just thought that one was a big head scratcher.
 

Just finished watching on DVR. It was pretty encouraging, IMO. The first two minutes after the under-8 timeout killed us. A couple unforced turnovers, a couple phantom sideline calls.

I don't know how good Temple is, but they shot a flukey % from 3. Meanwhile, Joey didn't have much, and a thought a few calls went against us. Overall, encourage play from Bakary, Murphy and Buggs outweigh anything else.
 

cjbfbp said:
Yes. After watching today, I'd say a decent chance in the third game, too. After going 1-2 in holiday tournaments over the last two seasons, I'd be pretty happy with a 2-1 finish.
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I'll take 2-1 with a win over Tubby would be OK.
 


howeda7 said:
Just finished watching on DVR. It was pretty encouraging, IMO. The first two minutes after the under-8 timeout killed us. A couple unforced turnovers, a couple phantom sideline calls.

I don't know how good Temple is, but they shot a flukey % from 3. Meanwhile, Joey didn't have much, and a thought a few calls went against us. Overall, encourage play from Bakary, Murphy and Buggs outweigh anything else.
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I tend to agree with Howeda, I was surprisingly encouraged with their play. They showed potential but are a young bunch. Huge strides from Buggs which is encouraging. I'm disappointed with the 3 sideline turnovers which were killers but this team is athletic and I'm impressed with their tenacity and defense. As a documented King hater, he still drives me nuts because he has potential sans his head pumps. But he has signs of hope still, and they need his leadership and scrappiness to succeed.

The next two games are important from an emotional standpoint and if they can be more cautious with the rock and eliminate turnovers, they may surprise us. It's nice to see that nobody is afraid to shoot. We need players that have confidence. Good luck tomorrow guys.
 

I was hoping this team would have gotten a physical juco pf.

Having a 6-8 240lb pf in Bond hurt us is not surprising. Defending physical pf's was a weakness last year. Not sure he can always hit from the outside like he did.

McBrayer looks like Austin with much better ball handling.

Buggs is much like sophomore Rodney W. shooting 3's instead of putting pressure on a d by driving to the rim. Buggs can really rebound, defend, and drive when he decides to.

We aren't a very good 3pt shooting team, as expected. King and Mason are the only consistent ones.

We need to defend the 3 better, get other besides Mason to penetrate and kick more. 8 assist for the Game!

We excelled at getting to and making free throws.

More excited than disappointed.
 

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