Game 5: Gophers Host Xavier (11/22/17)

Thanksgiving Eve:

We continue our showcase of power conference turkeys with Xavier. Last season the Musketeers finished 7th in the Big East with a 4-14 conference record five games behind 6th Georgetown. On the positive side they constructed an 8-4 non-conference record including a win over Michigan. However, Xavier only returns one starter from that team, Kindell Fincher, and she has been sitting out with an injury.

This year’s version of the Musketeers were projected 10th in the 10 team Big East. Nevertheless, they are off to a 3-0 start having defeated: New Hampshire, 71-66; Mount St. Mary’s, 66-45 and Grambling State, 72-67 before their visit to Williams Arena.

They are a three point shooting team, 26-70 (.371) and a high turnover team having committed 56 in their first three games.
The three leading scorers are:

5’9” G Sr. Jada Byrd (12.7 points/game)
6’1” F Jr. Irimani Partlow (12.3/game and 8.3 rebounds/game)
5’4” G Fr Allyah Dunham (10.7/game)

They do spread the minutes around with 9 players averaging over 10 minutes a game.

The only previous meeting between Minnesota and Xavier was when Kevin McGuff was still head coach. The Musketeers are presently coached by Brian Neal (5th season) who took over from Amy Waugh.

Gophers have a good chance of going undefeated in their OOC schedule. They need to win all of these games if they want to make it to the NCAA tournament.

adamj95 said:

Gophers have a good chance of going undefeated in their OOC schedule. They need to win all of these games if they want to make it to the NCAA tournament.

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Why do you say good chance? You must not have checked out the Gamer prediction thread.

I don't know if they need to win every game in OOC schedule to make it to the Tourney. I sure hope not. UNC in particular could be a tough game if everyone isn't playing well. UNC just scored 86 on Wilmington.

Shades said:

Why do you say good chance? You must not have checked out the Gamer prediction thread.

I don't know if they need to win every game in OOC schedule to make it to the Tourney. I sure hope not. UNC in particular could be a tough game if everyone isn't playing well. UNC just scored 86 on Wilmington.

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Sluggish first half but was glad to see them play some 1-1 D.

Gophers defense turned the game around in the second half, especially the full-court press. That's why I'd like to see more of the press. Another really solid game from Bell. Wagner showed more energy tonight. Hubbard with some nice assists. She had 6 for the game. Bell with 7 assists and should have had more if the recipients of some of her passes had hit easy buckets. Double digits boards again for Pitts. Stollings chose a strange time to insert Kaposi for the first time during some key moments of the second half. Fernstrom, Bello,, and Edwards continue to share post duty. Fernstrom and Bello missed some bunnies but got some rebounds and showed some energy. I like the 5-0 start, but still not completely sold on this team. Hope they prove me wrong. We'll know more about them after this weekend's games.

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2017-2018/xu.html

Sluggish it was. In the first half, the Gophers missed layups in bunches and Xavier happily knocked down threes. The signature play of the first half was with Xavier's Byrd shooting an and one Xavier pulled its players up court leaving four Gophers ready to rebound a miss. BUT, when Byrd missed, the Gophers stood like statues thinking it was a two shot foul. Finally one of them (I don't remember who) flipped the ball toward the baseline ref and out of bounds for a turnover. Xavier turned that bit of brain freeze into a three.

Fortunately, attitudes were readjusted at halftime and the Gopher press created turnovers turning a 40-32 deficit into a 74-62 win. Bell was again the central figure in the turnaround. Kiki finished with 20 points (8-11 from the foul line with 7 assists, 2 steals and 3 turnovers). Fernstrom provided some important minutes and Wagner lead the scoring with 24.

I think Xavier tired in the second half which really slowed down their offense while Minnesota sped up.


Minutes Played (Starters bolded):

40 Wagner (24 points)
39 Hubbard
38 Bell (20 points)
32 Pitts (7 points and 10 rebounds)
17 T. Bello
15 Edwards (8 points and 7 rebounds)
13 Fernstrom
3 Brunson
3 Kaposi

I just watched the replay on the free throw and it was Pitts who directed the missed shot out of bounds. She recognized her mistake but it was too late. Neither Edwards, Wagner, Bell or Hubbard seemed to realize what the situation was. Like the announce said, "I've never seen that before".

Doesn't the ref always point out how many FT shots are left?

Shades said:

Doesn't the ref always point out how many FT shots are left?

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I'm pretty sure he, Bob Enterline, did.

*The 5-0 start equals the fourth-best undefeated start in program history.
*Wagner is tied with Lindsay Lieser for third on the Gophers' all-time 3-pointer list with 216.
*Bell has four 20-point games this season, while Wagner has two.
*Minnesota is now 21-9 against BIG EAST teams.