***OFFICIAL MINNESOTA AT PROVIDENCE IN-GAME THREAD!!!!***

We put Fitzgerald in a tough spot. Ideally, he comes in with Lynch on the floor. But the entire game he was playing with Murphy and it is a lot to ask of him to play the 4 and the 5 when he came in as a SF...

Shouldn't be too worried about Fitzgerald..

Oh, and 4th year of basketball? really? dude was out medically for two full seasons

I get that. But he's still played an entire season in the SEC and been playing/around D1 college basketball games for 4 years. The idea that he was intimidated by the environment is silly. He's rusty. It's not the end of the world.
 

I hope this post is from the future....
He can have a niche with this team. He just has to embrace the roll and keep working. By the time he's a senior he'll be providing some solid minutes.
 

I am sorry for the pessimistic things I have said! Still worried about shooting and turnovers as main weaknesses this year. For 2nd game of year and on the road I think it was solid.
 

Now that we got a huge road win over Providence, let's remember all the complaining last Friday about beating USC Upstate by only 15 points...

Just a fun poke there, but wow, the negative nancies were out in droves on this site after that game. Hopefully the pessimism is slowly evaporating from that crowd now...
 

He can have a niche with this team. He just has to embrace the roll and keep working. By the time he's a senior he'll be providing some solid minutes.

I think that went right over your head Freud...
 


I think that went right over your head Freud...
I think so. Sorry to spoil the joke.
I get the Hurt kids first names mixed up. Is he Michael and the other one is Matthew? Wish mom and dad had named them Albert and Zebediah to help me out.
 

If Hurt gives the grunt minutes like he did tonight, we'll be fine. Fitz is still trying to work himself back. He'll be better. But the effort Hurt gave when Konate was hacking and Fitz was playing timid was great to see. We need those grinders to give us those minutes.

I only saw the closing minutes of the first half and the second half. For the short time that Hurt was in during the second half he played a solid team game: nice interior passing, fair defense, and even a good drive to the hoop. He's improved significantly.

I didn't realize the extent of Bakary's compulsive hacking until I looked up a statistic recently. Bakary averaged 9.1 fouls per 40 minutes last year. To put that in context, Reggie Lynch averaged 5.9 fouls per 40 minutes last year.
 

I am sorry for the pessimistic things I have said! Still worried about shooting and turnovers as main weaknesses this year. For 2nd game of year and on the road I think it was solid.

Over the years, especially in the Dutcher years and Clem years I had a huge amount of passion for the team (plus once in a while during the Tubby era (win at Wisc/ BT Tourney run) , and found myself getting frustrated and yelling at the TV a lot during games. (scaring the cats and alarming my GF)

I was in the same place last spring, especially during the MTSU game, but again in the late first half/ early second tonight. That is a good thing, it is good to care about the team. Apathy and being depressed about the team sucks, much like it had to be being a fan of Iowa during the Lickliter era.

Thankfully I refrained from positing anything, and at one time after an another typical dumb Lynch foul, awful Konote play, Mason missed FTs, and flurry of Providence 3s and improbable step backs/ fade aways by PC I just smiled and realized we were not down my that much and Coffey and others would heat up, and there was a lot of time left on the clock. It was great tonight night and only will get better. Ftizgerald will knock off the rust and be a good replacement for the loss Eric Curry. Mason and Washington will start to get more comfortable on the court together. Maybe Lynch will figure out that it OK to give up a 2 pt basket and pass on a foul once in a while. . It all is looking up.

I am happy that I was able to stop back and take stock of the situation and realize we had a solid group and could overcome the situation, even without the great Akeem Springs. My brief thought in a moment of clarity was that if this group could win at Purdue and Maryland, they probably could get it together in Providence and they proved me right.

The reality is Providence is a very impressive and tough team. Their coach is great and they play loose, but also are disciplined in terms of turnovers, defense and rebounding. They appear to have a number of stout, promising power players and a number of shooters and slashers. I bet they end up top 3 in the Big East. It was a great win tonight in front of a very fired up crowd.

PS. I really like the new FOX/ FS1/ BTN arrangement. Having Tim Brando, Rafferty, Jackson, Gus Johnson and others calling the games, and acting like it is a big deal, is heads above the old ESPN tired act, when it wasn't Duke or Kansas playing. I know they all worked for ESPN over the years, but at least the pro SEC/ pro-ACC agenda of ESPN is being blunted, and someone else is giving them a run for their fleeting money. The PAC 12 and Big Ten are the winners in these new TV arrangements. Better TV times, better production, better commentators, and no ACC all day crap.
 

Bakary averaged 9.1 fouls per 40 minutes last year. To put that in context, Reggie Lynch averaged 5.9 fouls per 40 minutes last year.

Scary and somewhat funny thing is he doesn't think its a foul! If my hands are in the air, I'm allowed to run into the shooter, right? Sheeze.

Props to Hurt tonight for productive minutes.
 



Wow, what a huge win. Some dagger 2nd half threes from Coffey, a veteran and savvy Mason, and a dominant Jordan Murphy.

Still concerned about our defense. It was our bread and butter last year, just way too many easy buckets and wide open 3’a tonight. It’ll come, it’s all effort.
 

Coffey seems to always hit big threes or make tough finishes at the hoop whenever it feels like a possible momentum swing is occurring. What an impressive outing for most of our guys. Everyone looks bigger and stronger (particularly Hurt) and we just look so collected out there. I must say, it feels pretty good to get as much love as we do from announcers and the media. I think that helps with recruiting.
 

PS. I really like the new FOX/ FS1/ BTN arrangement. Having Tim Brando, Rafferty, Jackson, Gus Johnson and others calling the games, and acting like it is a big deal, is heads above the old ESPN tired act, when it wasn't Duke or Kansas playing.

Heck ya. Rafferty is still the man.

Imo Washington showed a lot tonight. You can't ask much more from a true freshman pg in his 2nd game.
 

Man, what a game! I was beyond impressed with the Gophers tonight and their resolve to get that tough road win. At the half, the Gophers were 1-10 from 3 and Providence was 5-9. We had a backbreaking sequence in that first half where Mason missed a wide open 3 and then Providence came down and hit a transition 3 and there's a huge 6 point swing for the home team. Shortly after that Lynch missed a dunk. Finally, Washington's buzzer beater was waved off and the Gophers trailed by 3 at half. Oh did I mention Nate Mason was 2-4 from the ft line in the first half? It felt like the first half was a missed opportunity, but it also felt like the Gophers were in a good spot to only be down 3 given the circumstances.

The second half started off really rough with the Gophers continually getting beat down the court by the Providence big and also putting Providence in the bonus early. For much of the past 20 years, that 3 point lead Providence started with would have expanded to 12-15 especially when Lynch was forced out of the game with his 3rd foul. Instead, this Gophers team never got down by more than 6 (I think) and then righted the ship and eventually took the lead...then put their foot on their throat and expanded that lead. The team just looked really polished and composed and executed really well down the stretch. Nate Mason's ill advised jumper early in the shot clock was literally the only "No!" moment I can remember from the Gophers down the stretch.

Player observations:

Jordan Murphy: What a game from Murph! He showed off an expanded offensive game tonight and made some crucial one on one plays at times when the Gophers really needed. Almost more impressive to me was the way Murphy rebounded and controlled the paint on defense especially when we went very small with Hurt next to him in the front court. This was the type of performance that you would expect from an All-Conference player and a player who could get some All-America consideration.

Michael Hurt: I feel like Hurt was absolutely crucial to the Gophers performance tonight. Konate and Fitzgerald were both horrific, so Coach Pitino went with Hurt for a long, very successful stretch in the second half. He didn't do anything spectacular, but he moved the ball well, contributed a confident drive to the hoop for a bucket and played noticeably more aware defense than Fitzgerald/Konate. A really encouraging performance from the Sophomore in a big game on the road.

Reggie Lynch: The minutes he gave us, were very good. I felt like a couple of his fouls were very questionable, so I don't blame him a ton for his foul trouble. He continues to get better around the basket, both finishing at a higher percentage and being a more willing/better passer when he doesn't have a good shot. Another 4 blocks for Reggie tonight.

Isaiah Washington: Gave us some critical long jumpers in the first half, and came up with the big steal which lead to the Dupree McBrayer and 1 opportunity when the Gophers were building their lead. Don't like the 1 assist to 3 turnovers, but this was a very good performance though the prism of a freshman playing his first true road game against a tough opponent. It's nice to be able to recruit kids that have no doubt they belong (thus have a lot of confidence) as freshman and the Gophers have gotten those types of kids in back to back years with Coffey and Washington.

Dupree McBrayer: Dupree doesn't look completely healthy to me. I think it was telling that Washington started the second half for him. I have no doubt he'll continute to get better as the season progresses. Not a bad game by any stretch, but certainly didn't build on the performances he was putting on late last season.

Davonte Fitzgerald: While Dupree looked like he might not be quite all the way back, Fitzgerald looked like he had no business on the court. He was either a step slow or hesitant with everything he did out there. He was late to jump for rebounds, late to react defensively, and really hurt the Gophers in his 8 minutes on the floor. I think picking up 4 fouls in those 8 minutes can really tell the story for those who didn't watch the game. It's his first real action against a tough team in more than 2 years, so some growing pains are expected. That said, I am more concerned with how he looked athletically than the actual poor results. The Gophers really need him, so hopefully it's more a situation where he needs more time to get healthy and not that this is who he is now.

Bakary Konate: On any other night, Bakary would have been the worst Gopher to see the floor. He was repeatedly called for over the back fouls, missed a chip shot, was bad rotating and/or helping on defense and picked up 4 fouls in 5 minutes on the floor. I am not too worried about Bakary as he pretty much is what he is at this point. He will give us some nice backup big minutes at times this year...and then their will be games like this.

Jamir Harris: Was interesting to me that he didn't make the rotation, especially when Providence went to Zone. I've liked the little I've see of Jamir and hopefully he plays well against the lesser competition coming up and earns a shot at some rotation minutes. Gophers started the game 1-10 from 3 and definitely could use his shooting.

Amir Coffey: I am saving Amir for last because he had a rough first half, but he certainly turned it on in the second with some big 3's and finished with 15 points. Would have liked to see Amir assert himself a little bit more in other areas of the game as he's a very good distributor and certainly has the ability to give us more than 2 rebounds as well. One of my favorite players to watch and I think there will be games where he's the first guy everyone talks about.
 



6 assists on 30 made hoops...in a road win, that is a strange stat. Great win tonight. Road wins are A measure of any good team. Hey, we got a good one. Cheers.


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6 assists on 30 made hoops...in a road win, that is a strange stat. Great win tonight. Road wins are A measure of any good team. Hey, we got a good one. Cheers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice observation. It was the first thing I noticed in the box score too. What is really odd is that they moved the ball well and there were still so few assists. The box score looks like a lot of one on one, but the reality is quite different. Really odd stat.
 


Nice observation. It was the first thing I noticed in the box score too. What is really odd is that they moved the ball well and there were still so few assists. The box score looks like a lot of one on one, but the reality is quite different. Really odd stat.

The Providence coach commented on that stat. He said that is indicative of the opposing teams' players blowing past ours one-on-one.
 

Here's a couple of happy teams returning to Minnesota.

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The Providence coach commented on that stat. He said that is indicative of the opposing teams' players blowing past ours one-on-one.

Yeah, alot of our scoring was Murph and Mason saying you cannot stop me, and we missed a lot of layups that were assists only to be there for the putback.
 



I was so happy to see Michael Hurt be a difference maker in our zone defense. I think this was our turning point in the game when in previous posessions providence was passing down to the bigs who were running the baseline and we had no answer to their easy dunks. When he got in he instinctively filled up the passing lane until Murph could post up and just like that he was back on the perimeter protecting.

For a guy who has been targeted for his speed defensively where teams were setting up picks to force separation I thought this performance was huge for us to maximize our 12 possessions of back-to-back scoring was huge. It's great to see that he's understanding how the opposition was exploiting our zone defense and adjusted.
 

This was truly a great win. According to Sagarin's Predictor model, this was 5th least likely game we would win. This will will have long term ramifications for Selection Sunday. Going 4-0 against the toughest 4 teams OOC seems like it could be within reach.
 

Nice observation. It was the first thing I noticed in the box score too. What is really odd is that they moved the ball well and there were still so few assists. The box score looks like a lot of one on one, but the reality is quite different. Really odd stat.

I think the reality was closer to the stat. Yes, we moved the ball and guys around fairly well. However, in the end, one guy most often had to take a dribble-drive to the hoop, or create a shot off the dribble. Tons of those by Murphy & Mason.


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<img src="https://i.imgur.com/eS0D1y4.jpg" width="25%" height="25%">
 


Now I'm not going to be able to remember his real name. F!
 

I was surprised by the lack of assists but was happy with the ball movement. Certainly happy with the outcome.
 

Replay is on youtube if anyone wants to watch it.
 




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