***OFFICIAL Buckears AT MINNESOTA BOUNCE BACK IN-GAME THREAD!!!***

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GoldenUMNGopher said:
In a normal year sure.... Home and road games are not all that diff this year. Cheer up bud
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I think the courts are significantly different. Yes, all the measurements are the same (as proven during "Hoosiers" but each gym has a different look that takes some getting used to. Crowds obviously aren't making a difference. Teams that can generate their own energy on the road and sustain it are going to be the really successful ones.
 

GopherGangsta said:
When they are competitive in a road game get back to me....Winning at home is holding serve this year.
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Well, at least they are doing that. They don't have to win more than a small number of road games to have a good season if they keep holding serve at home.
 

alchemy2u said:
This is the B1G. The seasons that you defend your home court and steal a few wins on the road are the ones you contend for the title.
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10-0 at home and 6-4 away would get it done. Hold team to 60 or less and we win 80% of the time. Beating Michigan would go a long way. If they win tonight we can not afford to go 3 games down. I want a conference title. Been way too long.
 


GoldenUMNGopher said:
In a normal year sure.... Home and road games are not all that diff this year. Cheer up bud
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The best teams rock out a 2-3 loss conference record even when a conference is loaded. They love going on the road. I despised the Clem philosophy of holding serve at home and stealing a couple on the road. Become great, dominate the road. We can win at Michigan. Hold them to 60 or less.
 


Great win today. Great scouting, great execution. Awesome to see Gabe lined up and timed in. He found it by constantly working on it.
 

I was concerned about this game going in as it was just so crucial. Great start from Gach, great game from Robbins. Encouraging that Carr wasn't putting up numbers and was fine moving the ball and not forcing things. The key to the game was obviously getting the ball to Robbins in the post and he did a great of converting down there and his shot blocking on the other end of the court was huge as well.

Since Gabe has taken a lot of abuse, I wanted to single him out specifically. He did a great job defensively and it seems like it's far more noticeable to most when he misses a 3 than when for instance tonight Both gives up two straight strong hand drives for layups and then commits a foul on the third possession. Gabe is just so far and away our best defender that he needs to be on the floor even when he struggles with his shot. Great to see him knock down some big ones tonight and hope he can build on it going forward.

My one negative is this team is going to need Isaiah Ihnen or Tre Williams to step up and be a legitimate positive part of the rotation. It would be ideal if it's Ihnen due to the bigs frequent foul trouble in front of him, but at this point I'd settle for either one. Eric Curry tries really hard out there and plays smart, but he's just so limited in what he can do. Ihnen had a nice block at one point, but struggled defenisvely and on the boards and both he and Williams made some loud mistakes.

The team will stay ranked for a 2nd week and gets back above .500 in conference play which is where they need to be.
 

builtbadgers said:
UW is so far superior defensively to OSU.
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They play really smart defense. Their game plan was to essentially invite our team to play to it's weakness. In the WI game, if we would have crisply rotated the ball, we'd have had open looks. They knew that is our biggest weakness.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
They play really smart defense. Their game plan was to essentially invite our team to play to it's weakness. In the WI game, if we would have crisply rotated the ball, we'd have had open looks. They knew that is our biggest weakness.
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Spot on. Gard specializes in making teams beat themselves.
 



Winning against these ranked teams is huge because it helps against an unexpected loss or two later in the season. Basically giving some wiggle room in case we run into a hot shooting team at the Barn (we've seen that many times over the years).

I saw a stat tonight that 13 of the 14 Big Ten teams are in the top 55, which pretty much means no bad losses this year (didn't see what Nebraska was at though). That's an amazing feat for a conference.
 

gopherguy15 said:
Winning against these ranked teams is huge because it helps against an unexpected loss or two later in the season. Basically giving some wiggle room in case we run into a hot shooting team at the Barn (we've seen that many times over the years).

I saw a stat tonight that 13 of the 14 Big Ten teams are in the top 55, which pretty much means no bad losses this year (didn't see what Nebraska was at though). That's an amazing feat for a conference.
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Any loss is bad. 🤣
 


I have never seen a big man stop Liddell and Young on the interior this year even remotely at the level Robbins did tonight. He is so dang impressive as a rim protector it's unbelievable.

Really glad to see Both and Mash bounce back tonight, and most importantly... Gabe.

I'm still not pleased with the minutes we are getting from Tre Williams. He's a ball of energy, but still highly unproductive minutes most of the time from him ala Omersa.
 




Unregistered User said:
Missed the game due to learning some difficult news and then saw it didn’t record. Opened GH and saw the game thread at only 7 pages and breathed a sigh of relief.
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I hope all is well in your personal life but your comment about it being at 7 pages so there was a sigh of relief made me laugh.
 



EG#9 said:
Gabe is just so far and away our best defender that he needs to be on the floor even when he struggles with his shot.
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This is so true. He’s as important and effective at guarding players in the open floor as Robbins is at the rim.
 

Five in double figures. Nice win.
 


Ohio St and Michigan St both creamed in the same week, this team is different.
 

I'd feel significantly better about this team if Ihnen and Williams had shown expected 2nd year improvement; neither has. Its hard to get into a groove with unpredictable minutes, but both have been disappointing so far this year.
 

Block M said:
I'd feel significantly better about this team if Ihnen and Williams had shown expected 2nd year improvement; neither has. Its hard to get into a groove with unpredictable minutes, but both have been disappointing so far this year.
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Well, there are starter-level transfers who moved in front of both of them. Hard to expect 19-year-olds to beat 22-year-olds with D1 starting experience
 

Gophers have been feast (when making shots) or famine (poor shooting) since getting ranked. Encouraging that they have pretty much owned the games where they have shot well and that they stuck with it at Whisky.

Tough games this week with trips to Michigan and Carver-Hawkeye Arena! Hopefully we can hand the Wolverines their first loss and play Iowa close!
 

Continue to be impressed that, despite some aggressive defensive play, Robbins manages to stay out of foul trouble (the type that takes him out at the 14 minute mark of the first half - a la Johnson yesterday). I know he had 4 in the Wisconsin game, but they were spread out over the entire game. (And I believe one of his two fouls yesterday was from an offensive screen.) Not bad for someone in their first year of Big Ten play. For the last 20+ years of gopher basketball, I am always counting the fouls of our big men - cringing throughout.
 

U2Gopher said:
This is so true. He’s as important and effective at guarding players in the open floor as Robbins is at the rim.
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I always pull for Gabe as I really like his game. Especially when he lets one go from 3pt land. A made 3 is like a reward for his hard work and effort. He seems to be more comfortable putting the ball on the floor which I have been hoping to see more of.

Gabe works hard at all facets of the game. RP trusts Gabe, depends on him, assigns him to defend the opponent best perimeter player, and plays to his strengths better than anyone else on the floor.
 

cemba99 said:
Continue to be impressed that, despite some aggressive defensive play, Robbins manages to stay out of foul trouble (the type that takes him out at the 14 minute mark of the first half - a la Johnson yesterday). I know he had 4 in the Wisconsin game, but they were spread out over the entire game. (And I believe one of his two fouls yesterday was from an offensive screen.) Not bad for someone in their first year of Big Ten play. For the last 20+ years of gopher basketball, I am always counting the fouls of our big men - cringing throughout.
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I think what is a foul one game sometimes isnt a foul the next game. Felt Liam had some contact yesterday that would have been called foul in other games. More enjoyable from a fan's perspective when refs arent ticky-tack.
 

Block M said:
I'd feel significantly better about this team if Ihnen and Williams had shown expected 2nd year improvement; neither has. Its hard to get into a groove with unpredictable minutes, but both have been disappointing so far this year.
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I have thought Tre and II would be more impactful at this point as well. II plays good defense, as I see it. If his shots would drop, it would make such a difference - similar to Gabs.

Tre appears laid back to me., when on the court. Just my observation. I also thought he would have the ability to drive to the hoop a bit more, perhaps it is just not in his arsenal.
 

cemba99 said:
Continue to be impressed that, despite some aggressive defensive play, Robbins manages to stay out of foul trouble (the type that takes him out at the 14 minute mark of the first half - a la Johnson yesterday). I know he had 4 in the Wisconsin game, but they were spread out over the entire game. (And I believe one of his two fouls yesterday was from an offensive screen.) Not bad for someone in their first year of Big Ten play. For the last 20+ years of gopher basketball, I am always counting the fouls of our big men - cringing throughout.
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He had a great game, hope that continues, which think it will. Great instincts and touch around the basket. He really can be a tone setter like early yesterday.
 


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