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

11 turnovers. Better.
Solid defense. Definitely better than last year.
 

If we can stay healthy, get Curry back and win the appeal with Carr....look out. We could be very good. Lots to be excited about.
 


11 turnovers. Better.
Solid defense. Definitely better than last year.

Yes. That defense needs to be top 25 or their will be no Big Ten title. Saw a great deal to like about a early season game.
 

20 assists to the Utes 9 played a big role in this win
 


The depth is allowing Pitino to sub out Murphy and Amir on defense and bring them back in on offense. He did it about 5-6 times at the end of the half.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This might have been my favorite part of this game. We have options, people.
 



- Gabe is real good. He does not look like a freshman, plays real good defense, made good decisions, and shoots the ball very well.
- IW will be alright, he plays with a lot of emotion and his defense has improved. He was not hitting his shot in warm ups nor in the game and some of his passes surprise his teammates, but he has a spark that will eventually shine.
- Coffey will be playing in the NBA, he is very polished and having him handle the ball has made him a bigger part of the offense.
- Hurt couldn't buy a basket during warm ups, his shot was off tonight and it was nice to see him hit that 3 later in the game
- The offense had much more flow than in the past and set up cuts that lead to some easy assists under the basket.
- They had absolutely no problem bringing the ball up court against the press, nice crisp passing.
- as a Gopher fan, you can never relax with a lead, but the game never really felt like Utah would win. The Utah run at the end of the game came from a couple of ticky-tack fouls calls on Gabe and a few nice three from the Utes. Still felt like the Gophers had it in control.
 




Stull?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

My first viewing of the team (thanks BTN for never even putting on a recording of the Nebraska-Omaha game) and a few quick observations. Overall, I was very impressed that the Gophers were up between 11-15 points and my thoughts were "they don't even seem to be playing very well". The big negative to me was losing much of that 15 point lead with about 8 minutes to play, absolutely should have put that one away comfortably.

Gabe Kalscheur: You can tell that he works at his game the way Pitino says he does. He already looks like a high major basketball player after just one game. Very composed on both ends of the court and his three's were critical tonight. In many ways Gabe reminds me of some of Painter's Purdue guards who didn't necessarily jump out at you for their athleticism or ability, but were very consistent effective players.

Daniel Oturu: My biggest reason for optimism this year was the potential to get so much more out of the 5 spot on the offensive end with Oturu/Curry than we have in past seasons. How refreshing is it to feel like all 5 guys on the floor can be a part of the offense and actually score? How refreshing was it to see Daniel set screen after screen and not have to hold your breath that a whistle was coming? I do think Daniel struggled a bit with the sheer size and strength of Utah's center and he has to watch his foul trouble. Not an amazing debut, but a solid one.

Jordan Murphy: Wasn't a focus on the offensive end, but as Robbie Hummel said on the broadcast, any time you get 17 boards in a major conference basketball game that's an achievement. To me, I take it as a good sign that Jordan was rather quiet on the offensive end and the Gophers still led most of the game. The negatives for Jordan tonight were the foul trouble and the fact that he didn't really show any added dimensions to his offensive game. I think some people have it in their minds that the Jordan from the Providence game was the Jordan that we got for much of last year, but it really wasn't. If he can consistently hit a jumper and take guys off the bounce a little bit he's and All B1G first team player.

Amir Coffey: Welcome back Amir! His tip in of his own miss late in the game went a long towards icing the game. I really like his court vision and his passing ability. I do question some of his drives to the basket as the way he's trying to finish seems awkward.

Dupree McBrayer: Hope he's ok. I thought there was a missed drive by Dupree in the 2nd half that would have been a dunk towards the end of his Sophomore year, but was a lay up attempt tonight. That was one of the few times I wondered if he was truly all the way back to the same dude. He didn't really stand out tonight but he was credited for 6 assists and only 1 turnover and that's winning basketball.

To me the bench really struggled...

Jarvis Omersa: I love the energy Jarvis plays with, but it was almost like he was too energetic out there. He seemed to struggle on both ends and it's a delicate balance of trying to get him to slow down slightly while still keeping that motor revved all the way up as that is his biggest asset. I see a lot of potential in Jarvis and his dunk really got the crowd out of it's slumber.

Matz Stockman: Too many fouls in situations where he didn't need to foul. Was bullied down on the post in the first half for a couple buckets. His decision to put the ball on the floor instead of going up and dunking off a nice feed from Isaiah late in the game could have really come back to hurt us. On the plus side, he seemed to know where to be at all times and had a nice hook shot.

Isaiah Washington: I am bit concerned about how Isaiah reacted to a bunch of his missed shots. He seems to be pressing to me and he was the main culprit of taking rushed/bad shots. That said, the kid is just really good with the ball in his hands. I never worry about anyone taking it from him and he can get in the lane and create like few Gophers have in the post-Haskins doldrums. It's too bad that a couple more of his passes were not converted because he deserved more than 1 assist on the night. I might be totally off on this, but I get the feeling that if Marcus Carr was eligible, Washington wouldn't be in the rotation right now. I like Isaiah's potential and I don't expect him to go 0-5 from 3 very often as his shot looks good.

Overall a pretty encouraging start to the season IMHO, it was a game the Gophers really should win and they did just that. For those that didn't were at the game, Robbie Hummel mentioned several times how much he liked Pitino's zone offense.
 

edit:double post
 
Last edited:



At least two of Washington's three attempts rattled out. That'd be money if he can be 33+% from long range.

I was really impressed with Murphy/McBrayer/Coffey tonight. Smart decisions + limited turnovers + smart shots. Sets the tone for the whole group.

Really liked the 2-man game Murphy and Oturu played on a few possessions. Dump the ball in to one, get the defense to over commit, then quick pass to the other for the easy bucket.
 
Last edited:

The timber of Hummel's voice was a bit hard to listen to, but I really liked the announcers' work last night. Normally not a great fan of big ten announcers. Anyone else feel that way?
 

- Gabe is real good. He does not look like a freshman, plays real good defense, made good decisions, and shoots the ball very well.
- IW will be alright, he plays with a lot of emotion and his defense has improved. He was not hitting his shot in warm ups nor in the game and some of his passes surprise his teammates, but he has a spark that will eventually shine.
- Coffey will be playing in the NBA, he is very polished and having him handle the ball has made him a bigger part of the offense.
- Hurt couldn't buy a basket during warm ups, his shot was off tonight and it was nice to see him hit that 3 later in the game
- The offense had much more flow than in the past and set up cuts that lead to some easy assists under the basket.
- They had absolutely no problem bringing the ball up court against the press, nice crisp passing.
/QUOTE]

Just by watching about five minutes of tape from a game his senior year, I thought Gabe would be pretty good and play significant minutes as a freshman because he was athletic, confident, and multi-faceted. Didn't think he'd be this much of an immediate contributor though. Right now I wouldn't be surprised if he had as productive of a freshman year as Murphy had.

I thought IW played fairly well. His biggest problem remains his shot. He's really trying to be a facilitator. A couple of times I thought he passed when he should have taken it himself.

Not sold on Coffey as an NBA player yet.

Hurt looked more confident, moved much better, and played pretty good defense.

The ball movement was quite good.

McBrayer looked solid and, as always, thank God for Jordan Murphy.

The schedule through early December is really tough. If the front court continues to show the same propensity to foul, we're still going to have some depth issues there. Hope Curry has a speedy recovery.
 



I didn't realize he didn't play until the line up at the end. He must not have Pitino's trust yet out there.

Could also be dealing with an injury of some kind as well which led them to give him the night off maybe? Just speculation on my part. Early in the year could be any number of things. I would think he will be part of the rotation most nights though.
 

I'll be surprised if Coffey makes it through the entire season uninjured. He's an excellent athlete, but he has some recklessness to him where he ends up landing awkwardly. I'm not sure his body can hold up.
Also, he's still far too dependent on his left. It's just what it is. The kid plays hard though and that makes him a good to great player.
I think there was a moment in the second half where we had 4 lefties on the court. That was unusual.
 

I'll be surprised if Coffey makes it through the entire season uninjured. He's an excellent athlete, but he has some recklessness to him where he ends up landing awkwardly. I'm not sure his body can hold up.
Also, he's still far too dependent on his left. It's just what it is. The kid plays hard though and that makes him a good to great player.
I think there was a moment in the second half where we had 4 lefties on the court. That was unusual.

Lefty's Lefty was probably in heaven.

Go Gophers!!
 

I was wrong about Gabe. I watched him at state and was not impressed. Could not have been more wrong, awesome stroke, good D, can handle to ball, big guard and smart. IW looked horried, stop shooting 3's! Oturu was out sized by the Utah center who was 7" 260. He will add 20 pound and be just fine. When Curry is back we will have nice front court depth.
 

Just by watching about five minutes of tape from a game his senior year, I thought Gabe would be pretty good and play significant minutes as a freshman because he was athletic, confident, and multi-faceted. Didn't think he'd be this much of an immediate contributor though. Right now I wouldn't be surprised if he had as productive of a freshman year as Murphy had.

I thought IW played fairly well. His biggest problem remains his shot. He's really trying to be a facilitator. A couple of times I thought he passed when he should have taken it himself.

Not sold on Coffey as an NBA player yet.

Hurt looked more confident, moved much better, and played pretty good defense.

The ball movement was quite good.

McBrayer looked solid and, as always, thank God for Jordan Murphy.

The schedule through early December is really tough. If the front court continues to show the same propensity to foul, we're still going to have some depth issues there. Hope Curry has a speedy recovery.
The ref were really whistle-happy last night. The crowd oftens boos a foul for the hime team, but I heard a few groans of amazement when fouls were called on the opposing team as well. Really ruined much of the flow of the game.

What I enjoyed was the strategy Pitino used to put Murphy, benched with 2 early fouls, in on offense, then sub Matz on defense. Murph had 7 rebounds in the first 7 minutes, ending with 17 in 29 minutes, plus 11 point & 5 assists.

Finding a way to keep him impacting the game was a key to this win, IMO. Good coach move. Kept his skills and head in the game, and Murphy added only one more foul to end with 3.
 

- Gabe is real good. He does not look like a freshman, plays real good defense, made good decisions, and shoots the ball very well.
- IW will be alright, he plays with a lot of emotion and his defense has improved. He was not hitting his shot in warm ups nor in the game and some of his passes surprise his teammates, but he has a spark that will eventually shine.
- Coffey will be playing in the NBA, he is very polished and having him handle the ball has made him a bigger part of the offense.
- Hurt couldn't buy a basket during warm ups, his shot was off tonight and it was nice to see him hit that 3 later in the game
- The offense had much more flow than in the past and set up cuts that lead to some easy assists under the basket.
- They had absolutely no problem bringing the ball up court against the press, nice crisp passing.
/QUOTE]

Just by watching about five minutes of tape from a game his senior year, I thought Gabe would be pretty good and play significant minutes as a freshman because he was athletic, confident, and multi-faceted. Didn't think he'd be this much of an immediate contributor though. Right now I wouldn't be surprised if he had as productive of a freshman year as Murphy had.

I thought IW played fairly well. His biggest problem remains his shot. He's really trying to be a facilitator. A couple of times I thought he passed when he should have taken it himself.

Not sold on Coffey as an NBA player yet.

Hurt looked more confident, moved much better, and played pretty good defense.

The ball movement was quite good.

McBrayer looked solid and, as always, thank God for Jordan Murphy.

The schedule through early December is really tough. If the front court continues to show the same propensity to foul, we're still going to have some depth issues there. Hope Curry has a speedy recovery.

Curious as to where you see the Gopher schedule as really tough ?
 

I thought Hurt looked the exact opposite of confident. He knows he's in a battle for minutes. Even without Stull getting any PT last night, I think it's just a matter of time until Stull passes Hurt in the rotation (read: minutes).
 

I was wrong about Gabe. I watched him at state and was not impressed. Could not have been more wrong, awesome stroke, good D, can handle to ball, big guard and smart. IW looked horried, stop shooting 3's! Oturu was out sized by the Utah center who was 7" 260. He will add 20 pound and be just fine. When Curry is back we will have nice front court depth.

Freshmen are really looking good. Obvious they won't always, but this team can be really good this year, especially with Curry back. If you take out Washington's shots and turn some of those into passes, this team shoots over 63% last night.
 

Curious as to where you see the Gopher schedule as really tough ?

I think alot of these teams that we will play are better than people think they are going to be. I don't think its an unbelievable schedule, but i think the tough part of it is that we are playing the tough games so early on without any cupcakes sandwiched in. It might not be the toughest schedule in the world as some people think, but i also think when we look back in march that it was tougher than we thought originally.
 

Freshmen are really looking good. Obvious they won't always, but this team can be really good this year, especially with Curry back. If you take out Washington's shots and turn some of those into passes, this team shoots over 63% last night.
If you take away 11 turnovers we are turnover free...[emoji41][emoji23]
I get what you meant. It just struck me as one of those "what if" scenarios that didn't happen, yet we can dream. [emoji16]
 

The ref were really whistle-happy last night. The crowd oftens boos a foul for the hime team, but I heard a few groans of amazement when fouls were called on the opposing team as well. Really ruined much of the flow of the game.

What I enjoyed was the strategy Pitino used to put Murphy, benched with 2 early fouls, in on offense, then sub Matz on defense. Murph had 7 rebounds in the first 7 minutes, ending with 17 in 29 minutes, plus 11 point & 5 assists.

Finding a way to keep him impacting the game was a key to this win, IMO. Good coach move. Kept his skills and head in the game, and Murphy added only one more foul to end with 3.

Agreed. I think the early fouls really damaged the flow of the game and kept both teams from being aggressive on offense. I thought the early charge on Jordan was a bogus call. The block/charge is supposed to be a point of emphasis this year, with the idea of giving the offense a little more advantage. Not so last night. Had to have been four or five really brutal charges both ways. Not good.

Jordan out of the game is bad news. He has to stay out of foul trouble. Also really surprised not to see Stull and no reference to it. Gabe isn't going five for six every night. We need Stull's shooting.
 

I thought Hurt looked the exact opposite of confident. He knows he's in a battle for minutes. Even without Stull getting any PT last night, I think it's just a matter of time until Stull passes Hurt in the rotation (read: minutes).

Hurt needs to make a high percentage of his open shots, period. He's not in the lineup for his quickness or slashing or rebounding. He gets minutes because he understands spacing on offense, moves the ball, doesn't take bad shots, and is in the right spot on defense. That's all well and good, but if the defense is leaving you open and you're not hitting, that's not enough to get a lot of minutes. There's also, of course, the wildcard we're all aware of, so he's certainly going to get the benefit of the doubt, but that only goes so far.
 




Top Bottom