***OFFICIAL USC UPSTATE AT MINNESOTA IN-GAME THREAD!!!!***

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Washington's gotta let the game come to him. A lot of rushed offense when he's with the bench crew.
 

MRJ said:
Three-point shooting is still a problem. They've been getting really good looks and missing all of them. Gotta hit those at some point.

Also, don't need Fitzgerald jacking up three's.
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Before Springs arrived, Fitz was considered the best shooter on the team.
 

Nice to see Harris hit a couple 3's and Hurt hit one as well.
 




GopherJake said:
At halftime, a couple dozen folks took the final oath to become Marines!
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Well, that's kind of neat.
 

Ugh. This is not an encouraging game. Hopefully just first game jitters, but the perimeter Defense has been terrible.
 

We aren't guarding the three worth a damn. Recognition out there has been awful all night.
 




Gold Vision said:
Ugh. This is not an encouraging game. Hopefully just first game jitters, but the perimeter Defense has been terrible.
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Play like this versus Providence and it's going to be a very very long game.
 


Seriously. Their guards are making us look silly. Murphy has been unstoppable though, so fortunately it’s not a game.
 

Pathetic defensively tonight. Absolutely pathetic.

Only superior talent and a big game by Murphy saved them.
 




MRJ said:
Pathetic defensively tonight. Absolutely pathetic.

Only superior talent and a big game by Murphy saved them.
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It's still a win. #11 West Virginia lost, so we may even move up in the polls.
 

Folks should calm down. As I recall, last year's 1st game was similarly underwhelming and a week later we were waxing the floor with Arkansas.
 

Well, USC Upstate did shoot lights out from 3... Some shots were just rediculous, and some weren't contested very well... but 90+ points and they didn't play great. So hopefully they got the gitters out of the way. Coffey seemed to have a lot of gitters.
 

This is a pretty disappointing performance to be honest. They should have been able to beat this team by 30 without breaking a sweat.
 

I hope it's a good thing that I was thoroughly unimpressed by a 15 point win in which the Gophers put up 92 despite not shooting well? The guard play in particular was so far below my expectations. I am sure Pitino would have liked to get a few minutes for Bakary, but he didn't have anyone to guard on this team and the guys who were on the court couldn't really ever put the game away usually by giving up and easy bucket just as they were pushing the lead closer to 20.
 



Guessing Pitino would rather have a game like this instead of a blow-out in the first game. They might be more prone to pay attention to the teachable moments, of which there were more than a few.
 

R * E * L * A * X I can't believe how how wound up people are. Its the first game, I think some of you are missing the positives here:
*almost 100 pts (despite not their best game)
*Murphy almost had double figure offensive rebounds
*Murphy career high 35 pts
*Lynch: 4 blocks, 1 pf
*Harris goes 2-4 from 3, he is going to contribute much more than people expected
*Hurt's confidence is going up, you can see it, that is going to really help this team

The biggest issue tonight was the guard play was just off, both on defense and offense. Really not a surprise, its the first game, and the guard rotation this year is really different than last. Its going to take awhile for some flow to form between the guards as well as their substitution patterns. The positive of having a lot of guards who can play means you have to wrestle with this problem. Offensively the guards didn't get worse from last year to this year, they just aren't in a flow yet. Defensively there was some effort issues tonight, but I don't see that as a major issue, we know how hard they can play.
 

Livingat45north said:
Here's the box score:
http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400986325
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Guards combined to go 9-30 from the field. If you include Coffey as a guard, the total would be 11-37. Team as a whole was 9-28 from 3 with Washington jacking up 7 and making 1. I am still more concerned about the defense. This team won with a grinding effort last year, I think the stat that the Gophers only managed 3 steals against this USC Upstate squad highlights the fact that, at best, they were not locked in on the defensive end of the floor tonight. I am certainly not concerned after one game, but Pitino will have plenty of ammo for film session and practice before Providence.
 


Northwestern hangs on the win a close one, so Indiana's the lone loser in tonight's Big10 games.
 

Some friends brought us along for their loyalty points event, and Pitino addressed the group before the game. He said that they knew absolutely nothing about this team - no advance scouting was available, and that their coach had stepped down in October. I suspect that the zone was a surprise, and it will be a good expereince for the team.
 

Gopher Teeth said:
R * E * L * A * X I can't believe how how wound up people are. Its the first game, I think some of you are missing the positives here:
*almost 100 pts (despite not their best game)
*Murphy almost had double figure offensive rebounds
*Murphy career high 35 pts
*Lynch: 4 blocks, 1 pf
*Harris goes 2-4 from 3, he is going to contribute much more than people expected
*Hurt's confidence is going up, you can see it, that is going to really help this team

The biggest issue tonight was the guard play was just off, both on defense and offense. Really not a surprise, its the first game, and the guard rotation this year is really different than last. Its going to take awhile for some flow to form between the guards as well as their substitution patterns. The positive of having a lot of guards who can play means you have to wrestle with this problem. Offensively the guards didn't get worse from last year to this year, they just aren't in a flow yet. Defensively there was some effort issues tonight, but I don't see that as a major issue, we know how hard they can play.
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+1
 

The Gophers defensive effort was awful, I see better effort at lifetime everyday. But it was still a win, hopefully they play more inspired against Providence otherwise it could be ugly.
 

Not a bad game offensively, Coffey and Washington were off but overall not that bad. Disappointed in the defensive intensity throughout the game, they really need to step it up.
 

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