This game really, really made me angry. From the point the Gophers were ahead 20-10, they got outscored 50-20 to get to a score of Gophers 40 Ohio State 60. That's effort, that's coaching, that's talent, that make you question everything about this team. The Ohio State comeback started with 2 really poor efforts from Nate Mason and then Isaiah Washington in getting around screens (both just stayed "stuck" on them and didn't even try to pretend like they were straining to get around it) which both lead to 3's. They were both in that 17-0 run and just for good measure another guy made like his 5th 3 all year during that run because it's the Gophers and that seems to always happen to us. At this point though, I am disappointed with Pitino for not doing more to try to stop the run, but I am more disappointed in the veteran players on the floor who were contributing to some very shaky offense leading to turnovers during that time period. Nate Mason can't be 4-13 with 2 assists and 2 turnovers against the tougher teams in the conference. Dupree can't be 3-9 from the field and 3-5 from the line with no assists against the tougher teams in the conference. We need both those guys to shoot 40% plus and make the type of winning plays you'd expect from a veteran backcourt that's started a ton of games. Murphy can't shoot under 50% from the floor and have just 5 rebounds while turning the ball over 3 times.
Now that I've talked about the "main" guys, holy s%^# did Bakary cost us today. When the game was like 11-13 points in the 2nd half, it would have been at worst a 5 point game if Bakary just grabbed a couple of routine rebounds and finished a routine bucket underneath on a nice look from Coffey. It was brutal to watch Ohio State get offensive boards that almost dropped completely in to Bakary's hands and he still doesn't corral them. Neither of these things are new problems, which brings me to the coaching.
Why on Earth is Pitino still insisting on having Bakary or Gas on the floor for the majority of the game? It's painfully obvious that they can't rebound their position and they provide as much negative value on the offensive end as any player possibly could. They congest the paint for Murphy, there guy can freely double, if they do get the ball it will usually end in a turnover or a missed shot, and both are risks for setting illegal screens. I don't understand why a decision wasn't made to go small. We're getting killed on the boards in every game post Lynch, so the traditional Center isn't working. I heard Pitino say he didn't want to move Murphy off the 4 because he's been playing so well (this was a few games ago), but why can't Fitzgerald be your "Center" on offense while Murphy stays at the 4? Spread the floor with four guys who are at least some type of threat from 3 and open up more driving lanes for Mason, McBrayer, and Washington when he plays. Spread the floor and make it more difficult for the double to come to Murphy down low.
I would like to be seeing more creativity coming from the coaching staff, and it's also a concern when the team gets undisciplined when they face adversity. The other issue is that it's really tough to make an argument that this is a "tough" team and they certainly don't play like a "skilled" team, and I feel like we are 5 years in to Pitino's tenure and I am not exactly sure what he wants the identity of his team to be.
Edit: Forgot to mention, what the Hell was Pitino doing putting Murphy back in to a 20 point game with less than 4 minutes to play? That couldn't be justified if he hadn't rolled his ankle earlier, but given that he did that bordered on being flat out insane.
