Positives from last night---Mashburn Jr & Ihnen

Gopherfan1000

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It was another ugly, ugly road loss in where the Gophers could not shoot and did not wake up until midway through the second half. But, if you had to take any glimmer of positivity away from last night's game it would be from the performances of Mashburn Jr. and Ihnen. Mashburn Jr. has played very well in the last several games and it appears he will be a bright spot in the Gopher's future and starting lineup moving forward. This kid has guts and can make things happen big time offensively. I am sure his defense and grit on that side will improve as the year's progress as well. Isaiah Ihnen also had a great game last night. He poured in some big 3's and was really the other spark to get us back in the game at the very end last night. His long body is great for the BIG in where physicality is a must.

There have been very few games, if any, in BIG play in where other Gophers outside of Carr, Gabe, Johnson or Robbins have carried this team. Last night, these two guys saved us from losing by 20+. Let's hope these guys continue to play hard minutes and progress. The program's future could be looking up if so.
 

Good post, I agree...both played well last night and Mashburn in particular has really stepped up the last few weeks. He has a very bright future, he's confident, has some moxie and will be an important player to retain and develop in the coming years.

Ihnen has been up and down this season but he shows flashes of having a big upside.

Go Gophers!!
 

Add Williams. He is agressive and I like that. The trio shot 55% FG and 67% from 3. We know those numbers won't stand going forward but it was positive for the future.

I liked the effort on D for most of the second half. There were 3 or 4 possessions where PU nailed a long contested 3 as the shot clock was running out. All very low percentage shots. It seemed that when the guys got the lead down to 6 PU made some very tough shots.

I would like to see some sort of analysis of how effective Gopher defenders are. In other words, how many points did Carr's man score, etc? I don't know if coaches have that stat or not but they have to have a good idea.

I think Mash has stepped up his D since the BIG started. He has a ways to go. It seemed like the lane was open a lot and Robbins spent a lot of time 20 ft from the basket offering very little help for our defenders. Why?
 


Mashburn is going to be a force if he sticks around. He has all star potential.

Ihnen could become a headache for opposing teams as well if he continues to develop. It's funny....I had to defend him early in the game thread yesterday. It's just that right now he's just an unfinished product. And what I mean by "unfinished product" is that he doesn't really do any one thing really well. But he has a high ceiling if he continues to work. 6'9" 220 and an athletic freak. Clean up the mental lapses and extremely inconsistent play and he's the likely candidate to start next year at PF.
 


Add Williams. He is agressive and I like that. The trio shot 55% FG and 67% from 3. We know those numbers won't stand going forward but it was positive for the future.

I liked the effort on D for most of the second half. There were 3 or 4 possessions where PU nailed a long contested 3 as the shot clock was running out. All very low percentage shots. It seemed that when the guys got the lead down to 6 PU made some very tough shots.

I would like to see some sort of analysis of how effective Gopher defenders are. In other words, how many points did Carr's man score, etc? I don't know if coaches have that stat or not but they have to have a good idea.

I think Mash has stepped up his D since the BIG started. He has a ways to go. It seemed like the lane was open a lot and Robbins spent a lot of time 20 ft from the basket offering very little help for our defenders. Why?

Robbins ankle was bothering him quite a bit from Thursday according to multiple quotes after the game.
 


Really like Mashburn. This kid seems like he is going to be pretty good. He is young, but as he matures, I would guess his shot selection will become better as well.

Ihnen, yes he had a great game. The problem with him is that he is so inconsistent. Maybe it is more from a lack of playing time that anything else, but when he gets his chance, he needs to be active on the boards right away like he was today.
 

Mashburn has loads of potential.

I like that he can score in a lot of different ways(even if the efficiency isnt there yet).

I would like to see him taking more mid range pull ups, he seems to be really good in that area and only taking 3s when open and in rhythm. But watching him play he definitely has a the look off a legit go to guy as a upper classman.
 





My take on Tre is that he is improving as he gets more minutes. He still makes some questionable decisions like that drive late in the game where he had a wide-open put in, but elected to try and dump it off to Johnson, I believe. He also dribbles too much sometimes and takes some ill advised long jumpers. FT's need a lot of work for a guy who is an outside shooter. I think he plays very hard and gives great effort every night. I think he will be a solid 4th/5th option for this team in the next few years, but won't progress to a top-tier guy.
 






Then sit him. Don't start him. He was a net negative from the beginning. You lose big and also put stress on that ankle forcing the healing time out. Dumb.
Well try playing Freeman then, it couldn’t have been any worse. I like Robbins but he gave us nothing yesterday.
 

You have to play players to get rid of inconsistency. It is said that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master anything. Tommy Lasorda used to say baseball players needed 1000 at-bats to really be comfortable in the batters box against big league pitching.

How do you expect Ihnen to be consistent when he goes 4-5 games without getting more than 10 minutes of playing time?

Williams and Mashburn are just starting to knock off some of the inconsistency and nerves of playing in the B1G. This stuff takes time if the player is less self-confident than Lebron, Melo, or Kareem.
 




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