Ignatius L Hoops
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Déjà vu All Over Again
(Except for Last Night’s Loss to the ‘Cats Which was a Conflagration of a Different Color)
(Except for Last Night’s Loss to the ‘Cats Which was a Conflagration of a Different Color)
Illinois (0-4) awaits the Gophers (1-3) in Champaign shouldering decisive losses in their first four Big Ten Conference games. Most notable was the Hawkeyes dropping a school record 108 points in defeating the Illini 108-72. Iowa was 13-26 from three and shot 65% from the field. It wasn’t even Illinois’ worst conference defeat this season; Indiana ripped them 83-42 in Bloomington. The Illini’s woeful Big Ten effort thus far:
B1G Losses: Northwestern 50-77, @ Iowa 72-108, @ Indiana 42-83 and Rutgers 51-75
During the two previous seasons, including B1G tournaments games, Nancy Fahey’s Illini were 2-17 and 0-17. That’s a grand total of two wins and thirty-eight conference losses in two plus seasons. One of the two wins was versus Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the other was one of the most embarrassing losses in Gopher history
When the Illini traveled to Williams Arena last season they were on a 19 game B1G losing streak and well on their way to a well-earned season ending RPI of 217. Meanwhile, Minnesota had opened the B1G season crunching the Badgers before losing in Ann Arbor. Minnesota was 12th ranked and looking to get back on track. Everything was good at the start with the Gophers cruising to a 46-29 lead at the 7:01 mark of the 3rd quarter. Then the Illini mounted a stunning comeback taking a 61-60 lead on an Alex Wittinger layup with 2:22 remaining. Kenisha Bell quickly responded with a jumper. But Brandi Beasley put the Illini back in the lead. Then Annalese Lamke missed two free throws and it was left for Arieal Scott to deliver the coup de gras.
It was the ninth Illini three pointer of the game. And sealed a loss that played a large role in keeping Minnesota out of the NCAA tournament.
Illinois was 9-17 from three while Minnesota was 4-16. In the game, Minnesota was led by Lamke with 18 points and 8 rebounds in 33 minutes. Brunson had 17 point and Bell 14. Taiye Bello, in 36 minutes, pulled down 11 rebounds to go with 4 points. Destiny Pitts was 1-10 from three and finished with 7 points and 4 rebounds in 40 minutes. For the Illini the leading scorer was Brandi Beasley with 19 followed by Wittinger with 11 points and 8 rebounds in 28 minutes. Courtney Joens chipped in 10 points; but it was Arieal Scott who annoyingly went 3-4 from behind the arc in 12 minutes of terror.
On the positive side for the Gophers this Sunday: Arial Scott is out for the season and Alex Wittinger graduated.
What Whalen said post game last season:
The second half collapse versus Illinois got me thinking about Big Ten games in which Minnesota gave up second half leads or significant scoring runs during the Whalen Era. (Actually, I started wondering about it after the Penn State game). Here they are in order-it’s not exactly scientific and some of them, of course, ended up being nervous wins:
Last Season:
Iowa: a 63-81 loss. Minnesota led by 8 at the half 40-32. Iowa rallied in the third quarter outscoring the Gophers 24-9. Adding insult to injury, the Hawkeyes finished off their victory winning the fourth quarter 25-14.
At Nebraska: a 63-57 loss. With 4:00 minutes remaining and Minnesota leading 57-51, the Huskers raced to the finish with a 12-0 game winning run.
Ohio State: a 55-65 loss. A 45-43 Minnesota lead was erased by a Buckeye 16-0 run sweeping OSU to a 59-45 lead and ultimately a Buckeye victory.
At Indiana: a 65-61 Gopher win. Minnesota led 61-49 at 4:15 in the fourth. A 10-0 Hoosier run closed the gap to 61-59 at :29. The Hoosier bucket was a layup off a steal by Keyanna Warthen who was fouled by Brunson. Although Warthen missed the free throw, Indiana rebounded the miss allowing Jaelyenn Penn a chance to shoot a three for the lead-she missed. Bell and Pitts went 4-6 from the line the rest of the way and Minnesota held on.
Northwestern: a 73-64 Gopher win. Oh yes, that’s the score after overtime. The regulation finish was more exciting. At 5:10 in the fourth quarter Minnesota led 54-49. A 9-0 Wildcat run made it 58-54. Pitts and Bell both scored to tie it up with :08 seconds remaining. Then with :04 seconds on the clock, Abi Scheid missed two free throws sending us to overtime.
Intermission for an exception! At Purdue: a 65-45 Gopher win. With the score tied at 40 with 3:09 left in the third quarter, Minnesota’s 25-5 run left the embarrassed Boilers gasping.
At Maryland: a 69-71 Gopher loss: We all remember how this one canceled a six game Gopher winning streak. With 5:06 remaining in the third quarter Minnesota led 54-38. Then a slow-motion train wreck turned into a runaway Maryland locomotive. Slowly losing steam, Minnesota maintained a 59-48 lead at the start of the fourth quarter. The Terps kept chugging along cutting the lead to 5 a couple of times. But a Kenisha Bell layup gave the Gophers a 69-62 lead with 1:58 remaining. That was the Gopher’s last gasp. Still, Maryland did not score until Kaila Charles connected on a layup with :50 seconds remaining. Charles’ bucket started a 9-0 game winning Terp run bookended by a Kaila Charles buzzer beating layup. Arrrgh!
At Rutgers: a 54-60 loss: This was pretty straight forward. At 6:43 of the third a Pitt’s three pointer gave Minnesota a 37-28 lead. A Rutger’s 8-0 run got the Scarlet Knights back in the game and the fourth quarter was just a trudge to a Rutger’s victory.
This Season (a quick once over):
At Penn State: a 81-74 Gopher win: Somehow a 54-21 halftime lead turned into a, “What’s going on?”, second half.
Ohio State: a 63-66 Gopher loss: A fourth quarter Pitts three pointer gave the Gophers a 63-59 lead at 2:55. A 7-0 Buckeye run gave Ohio State the victory.
I don’t really have conclusion other than to borrow from P J Fleck; If last season was year 0, please don't let it carry over to season 2. For now, I just hope we don’t have another Illinois game added to this list. Coming off last night’s last second layup loss to Northwestern, a loss to a terrible Illini club is an embarrassment we don’t need.
Probable Starters (B1G Stats):
| HGT | POS | YR | PLAYER | MIN | AVG | REB |
| 6’2” | F | Sr | Ali Andrews | 21.5 | 7.3 | 3.0 |
| 5’10” | G | RSr | Petra Holesinska | 26.2 | 10.8 | 2.5 |
| 6’2” | F | Fr | Kennedi Myles | 29.5 | 8.0 | 6.0 |
| 5’6” | G | Sr | Brandi Beasley | 26.1 | 6.3 | 1.3 |
| 5’9” | G | So | J-Naya Ephraim | 19,0 | 3.5 | 3.0 |
Bench (B1G Stats):
| HGT | POS | YR | PLAYER | MIN | AVG | REB |
| 5’10” | G | Fr | Jada Peeples | 22.5 | 5.8 | 1.3 |
| 5’10” | G | Sr | Courtney Joens | 12.8 | 4.0 | 0.9 |
| 6’3” | F | So | Mackenzie Blazek | 21.3 | 5.5 | 7.0 |
| 5’11” | G | Fr | Jeanae Terry | 15.4 | 3.5 | 1.8 |
| 5’9” | G | RSr | Cierra Rice | 10.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 |
