Game 2: Gophers Host Chicago State (11-12-23)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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A Sunday Afternoon Outing​

Minnesota welcomes Chicago State to the Gopher’s second consecutive, “It’s about us; not about them”, game. Just like playing LIU, the Gophers get to work on running their preferred offensive and defensive sets against a not very troublesome team.

Minnesota has a long, if infrequent, connection with Chicago State. Those connections famously include making former Gopher coach and future restaurateur, Cheryl Littlejohn, available for a couple of years of NCAA violations.

More beneficially, the Gophers have provided CSU with three visitor’s paychecks. In exchange, Minnesota received a 48-point win in 1993, a 48-point victory in 2006 and a 51 point margin last December. 2022’s 105-54 romp showcased Mallory Heyer who led Minnesota with 19 points. Mara Braun dropped 16 and Amaya Battle’s 8 points were backed by 10 rebounds. Here are some highlights from one of the season’s few highlightable games.


Last year was veteran coach Andrea Williams first at Chicago State. She won four games. All four came at the expense of the University of Hartford. It must be noted that Hartford was transitioning from DI to DIII and finished dead last (361) in the NCAA’s NET rankings. Those four wins helped boost CSU to a NET of 358. Life is tough as a DI independent.

Last season there were only two DI independents: CSU and Harford. In 2013 Chicago State had joined the WAC in hopes there would be a mid-west division; but those plans fell through a couple of years back. Independence probably helps manufacture opening schedules like this one: host Loyola on Thursday, play at Detroit Mercy on Friday and visit the Gophers on Sunday.However the schedule developed, Chicago State is 0-2 after dropping games to Loyola Chicago 47-74 and Detroit Mercy 48-83.

I figured there wasn’t much to learn about the Chicago State Cougars, so I skipped the ESPN+ replay and just mention a few of the CSU players:

Point guard Ana Haklicka is a 5’1” senior who scored 10 points in the opener and 2 in the second game when she was limited by foul trouble.

5’6” senior guard Tae’lor Willard scored 10 points against Loyola and 6 versus Detroit.

6’1” sophomore center Josie Hill posted 10 points and 11 rebounds against Detroit.

5’8” Sophomore guard Jac Cunningham had a 15-point performance against Detroit.

6’0” junior forward Evange Parrish was not notable in either game.

6’6” junior center ZiKeyah Carter came off the bench for 7 points versus Loyola.

5’3” guard, Hailey Hohenecker, from Plymouth is listed as transfer from Arkansas Little Rock and has yet to play.
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I'd like to see under 15 turnovers today and Hart to stay out of foul trouble. I'm sure Coach P hounded them after how many turnovers they had in their first game.

Nice to see Johnson with 6 points in the 1st quarter.
 
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I don’t think you can take much from this game but i like the 14 turnovers and Ayianna with 19 points. Braun also had a good game with 25. Next up are the Bison…..
 




If Sanders is the backup point guard, I think it will be trouble once the competition gets better (i.e. B1G). Too much dribbling only looking for her shot. Won't work in a month other than giving the opposition a turnover.
Fun to watch Holloway play. They need to get Heyer going. Braun's shooting speed has clearly gotten quicker.
 

We have been very impressed with Sanders. She is athletic, has a nose for the ball on both ends of the floor, and looks to pass to her teammates. I think she is playing more consistently than Battle.
 

Braun ran the point for a while in the second half. It's Battle, Sanders and Braun as point guards as far as I can tell.

Plitzuweit tried some interesting combos during the game. My favorite was Battle, Sanders, Braun, Heyer and Johnson.

We also got to see some errors, missed assigments and unforced turnovers quickly addressed.

Johnson can get to the hoop.

I found this game much more interesting than the first one
 



some quick hits

- AJ reminds me of a young Brunson (former lynx player) when she was in Sacramento. Seals her defenders well and gives her guards a good target to pass the ball to. A very nice finish around the rim. I noticed she can run the floor too.

I would like us to try and get Heyer more involved in the offense and run some plays for her more, even like a back door cut or a hand off.. only 2 shots today.. but she also does a lot of the little things that won't show up in the boxscore.

GG man has she been IMPRESSIVE her first two games. Her shoot is so smooth and she makes it look so effortless. Another one that I think will do a lot of little things for us, kind of that glue player. It will be so nice to have her hitting her shots, then teams will have to guard her and not double Mara, but if they do double Mara we will have another good 3pt shooter.

Battle looked better today, attacked a couple times, when she just PLAYS she is good.. when she overthinks she reminds me of Brittany McCoy, who was so smart sometimes I think she over thought passes and stuff.. When AB just plays you can see how good she can be!

Nia her pure athleticism will get us a couple easy points during the season imho. her high jumping skills make it so much fun to watch her sky for a rebound. she also plays the passing lines really well, will need to pick and chose when to do it against better teams.. but she got her hands in there today.

Sophie man it will just be nice to have a TRUE CENTER for the first time since.... Sophie has a nice soft touch around the rim. Her rebounding will be nice even if she didn't grab it herself just her size will help with rebounding. Also in the two games she doesn't seem to mind going to the ground to fight for a loose ball.

Sanders might be one of those players will it will be no no no yes for some of the choses she makes. She has had the most FTA in the first two games, so she can get to the basket.. but at the same time she needs to look for her teammates a bit more.. seems like she kind of gets tunnel vision sometimes.

Maggie is just going to do what she does best.. she's a very solid defender won't wow you but she usually keeps in front of her player and hustles on both ends.. Seems to know she have the green light to attack and has looked more comfortable driving, her shots seem a little more balanced this season. (last year it seems like she was always fading away or falling sideways)
 

adamj95 said:
I'd like to see under 15 turnovers today and Hart to stay out of foul trouble. I'm sure Coach P hounded them after how many turnovers they had in their first game.

Nice to see Johnson with 6 points in the 1st quarter.
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Problem is a good chunk of their turnovers against LIU were during the full court press. CSU did not press us at all. I would feel good about it if our turnovers were closer to 10.
 


I think Sanders will get better. She needs time to settle in. Part of that is that this is likely the most talent she has played with. i think she is willing to listen to what Coach P wants.
How quickly will Johnson continue to improve? She could be a very nice weapon running the floor and posting up.
 




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