STrib: Gophers basketball relishing long-awaited bye week before Iowa showdown

BleedGopher

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per Marcus:

February is a critical month for Pitino's team, but it also marks a point in the season where Minnesota's players could use a little break between games.

That's exactly what the Gophers (12-11, 6-7 Big Ten) get this week with their next game not until Sunday afternoon against rival Iowa at home.

"Yeah, we played a lot of games in the month of January," Pitino said recently. "Every team gets two bye weeks. We haven't had any yet. You would love one in January, February and March, but it just doesn't work out that way with the schedule. That was a long month, with a lot of good moments and a lot of tough moments."

Minnesota was the only Big Ten team to play nine conference games in January. Ten teams played eight games last month, while Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan played only seven.

"It's a grind when you're playing that many games, especially with our strength of schedule in the conference," Pitino said. "It's a good little break. But obviously [we're] excited about some really good opportunities in front of us."


Go Gophers!!
 

Didn’t they have a bye before the Wisconsin game?
 

Looking at their performances against Big 10 teams/decent non-conference opponents after 5+ days of rest, they lost to Iowa, beat Ohio State, beat Oklahoma State, and beat Wisconsin. Both the wins against Ohio State and Wisconsin were at home and were great games all around.

I have to think that with how thin their bench is, the more rest the better. Carr in particular has gotten worse as he's played more.
 

The break should definitely serve them well with all the minutes the starters have been playing. Also gives Willis a chance to get to 100%. Let's hope Indiana runs them Hawkeyes ragged tomorrow night.
 

The break should definitely serve them well with all the minutes the starters have been playing. Also gives Willis a chance to get to 100%. Let's hope Indiana runs them Hawkeyes ragged tomorrow night.

Run Iowa ragged, but how about a 4-overtime win for the Hawkeyes? An Indiana loss would really help the Gophers.
 






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