Wow, these games are going to take years off my life. There were chances to put this game away and once again the Gophers just refuse to do it. How great was Eric Curry in this game? He had so many huge plays in the second half from a nice block to a great high/low pass to the biggest steal of the game to finally tapping that miss back to Springs for the game winner. If this game was lost, I was going to be pretty upset by some uncalled travels late by Bryant. You'd think we'd get ONE of those calls on our home court when it kept occurring on huge possessions late.
Nate Mason with a great first half and his free throws down the stretch were so important. Amir hit some big free throws late and his three kept the Gophers in it. Really nice performances from these guys.
The good news/bad news of this game is that the Gophers were able to win this game while getting almost nothing from Springs/McBrayer/Lynch. From being up 7 with a chance to go up 9 and Lynch can't control an entry pass then allows and and 1 on the other end. All of a sudden it's a 4 point game. Springs was mainly just off shooting, but he had at least a couple of uncharacteristic defensive lapses late as well. Dupree really looks out of sorts. I wasn't ready to panic after the last game, but today was a different story. At times he looked afraid to even handle the ball and had that horrific turnover in the first half. What I HOPE Pitino and the staff talks to Dupree about is letting the 3 fly when he is open. He had another possession today where he was wide open with his feet set behind the line, passed up the shot, then dribbled in and shot a contested 2...clank. I think the entire Barn was hoping that last midrange would go in when he shook his defender and got the open look, but it was long. I doubt it will happen, but I'd love to see the Barn get on its feet for Dupree when he enters the game for the first time against Michigan. Really let him know the fans have his back. I still have a ton of believe in Dupree the player, but mental struggles can take the best of us down.
I was nervous about this game because it was so important for Indiana and I think their talent level is still tournament level. It's great to get the win and in some ways it's impressive to be able to get that win with so many of the Gophers regulars having off nights.