Very nice bounceback win! Great 2nd half
Good to see them come back. I saw they were down by dbl digits late in the first half.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Gophers with back to back quality wins now, beating Northwestern in OT and then coming from behind in the second half to beat Michigan State! This team does not quit.
Great win tonight! Barn was rocking.
The Gophers were down 45-36 with just over 12 minutes left but out scored Michigan State the rest of the way 23-11 to win 59-56.
They have now won 3 straight Big Ten games are 6-5 in the conference and 15-7 overall. Last season they won 3 Big Ten games. Look out the Gophers are coming.
They are in 4th place (14 teams in the conference).
Ben Johnson for coach of the year.
Great win but please retire those uniforms. Their retro alt vs. NW was so much better.
The Barn is so awesome when it gets loud. I really want Ben to succeed here and i hope they can continue to be competitive.
'29, '40, '74, '76, '79, '02, & '03
GPL's Resident Cabin Enthusiast & Cadets Hockey Fan
Great win but please retire those uniforms.
Hard disagree. I think they look slick. The throwbacks too!
I liked the set vs NW
Great win but please retire those uniforms. Their retro alt vs. NW was so much better.
Whatever the players want is good enough for me... although I agree that the retro alts were great.
I don't expect them to decide because of my opinion - I just thoroughly will always be against uniforms in which the primary color is not a school color. Similar to when the football team does it. Que sera sera.
Looks like it’s revenge of the Big Ten West in basketball this year.
'29, '40, '74, '76, '79, '02, & '03
GPL's Resident Cabin Enthusiast & Cadets Hockey Fan
Probably doesn't happen very often that OSU and UMi are at the bottom of the standings for any sport M or W. This does not make me sad.
One or the other at the bottom, maybe not terribly common, but far from unheard of.. both, though? And, for the 2nd largest college sport?Probably doesn't happen very often that OSU and UMi are at the bottom of the standings for any sport M or W. This does not make me sad.
Exactly zero sadness here, as well.
B1G refs... corrupt, or just incompetent?
Rough game for the boys today. Had a huge second half lead, then Garcia gets hurt and Iowa goes on a crazy run. Gophers had double the number of fouls of Iowa and after Garcia fouled out only made 1 of their final 10 3s (they started 11/15).
Caitlin Clark with the all-time women's scoring record with a 3 from nearly half court.
Just for @g-manpuck... About the only time I'll be in favor of Iowa Hawkeye player or team for several reasons and I'll leave it at that.
Keep your stick on the ice...
Gophers up 8 at the half against #2 Purdue. They going tomlet us down like against Iowa.
Another tough loss for the Gophers, battled against #2 Purdue but just too many missed open shots in the second half. Need more from Christie on both ends of the floor. He’s a freshman but very important already.
Another tough loss for the Gophers, battled against #2 Purdue but just too many missed open shots in the second half. Need more from Christie on both ends of the floor. He’s a freshman but very important already.
Doesn't help when Zach Edey shoots 14 FTs by himself and the Gophers shoot 16 as a team. Big Ten officials coddle that kid beyond belief and it kills Purdue in the big dance every year when the other conferences don't care about him.
Another tough loss for the Gophers, battled against #2 Purdue but just too many missed open shots in the second half. Need more from Christie on both ends of the floor. He’s a freshman but very important already.
Doesn't help when Zach Edey shoots 14 FTs by himself and the Gophers shoot 16 as a team. Big Ten officials coddle that kid beyond belief and it kills Purdue in the big dance every year when the other conferences don't care about him.
Purdue and Eddy are by far leading the country in FT but I thought we defended him as well as possible and we got some bad and good calls so I don’t think we can blame the refs for this one
I watched this game with a buddy of mine who is a die hard Purdue fan and he thought the Gophers presented a lot more of a challenge than he anticipated, especially since Purdue was at home. The Gophers hung with and were beating Purdue when they were hot from three but once that magic dissipated in the second half Purdue took over.
The hack a shack defense is probably the best way to defend Eddy, but he had a good enough night on the free throw line.
'29, '40, '74, '76, '79, '02, & '03
GPL's Resident Cabin Enthusiast & Cadets Hockey Fan
This article gets into what they'll likely have to do to get in:
The victory over Ohio State, which was convincing as Minnesota (17-9, 8-8 Big Ten) led by as many as 17 points in the second half, earned Minnesota a Quad 2 win to help bolster their NCAA Tournament resume. They still need more Quad 1 wins – or a dramatic run in the Big Ten Tournament – to lock in a spot in the NCAA Tournament and overcome the fact that they played one of the easiest non-conference schedules in the nation.
Friday's updated NET and KenPom rankings show the Gophers on the rise. They inched up from No. 73 to No. 72 in the NET and jumped to No. 63 in KenPom, both of which are important data points for the tournament selection committee.
The most important metric seems be quality of wins, which makes Minnesota's 1-5 record in Quad 1 games a sticking point. They'll need more Quad 1 wins and they'll get opportunities Sunday at Nebraska, next Wednesday at Illinois and then March 9 at Northwestern.
Another close one with Illinois last night and actually played well but ultimately a loss. I think the NCAA hopes are over at this time with the last couple losses.
then there is this:
Gophers may make Bad Beats on Monday night's Sportscenter with SVP. Favored by 6.5 points today. Up 7 and give up a meaningless layup as time expired to only win by 5.
Not Gopher Basketball related but college basketball related.
There is not doubt that Caitlyn Clark deserves the accolades she does. She is a generational talent who deserves absolute credit for all of her records.
That said, how amazing was Pete Maravich. Today she broke his record for all-time NCAA scoring record. Pistol Pete did it in an era where he played only 3 years (freshmen could not play), had no shot clock, and had no three point line.
The women put up a better fight against Iowa. I know they’re dealing with an injury, but getting tripled up is bad. They’ve really faded at the end. But are much improved none the less.
Gopher men start their Big Ten Tourney right now against Michigan State.
Dawson Garcia was named 3rd team all Big Ten, Cam Christie was named Freshman all conference, and Elijah Hawkins was named honorable mention.
Hawkins got snubbed hard, IMO. Leads the conference in assists/game and is second in the country in assists/game and leads the nation in assist/turnover ratio.
Gophers enter the game losing 4 of their last 5, and Michigan State needs this win to cement their NCAA tournament bid.
Gophers season (likely) ends with a 77-67 loss to MSU.
Was a very good game until the last 5ish minutes. Garcia picked up his 4th foul and MSU took full advantage, driving the lane knowing it would be wide open with both Gophers post defenders having 4 fouls.
Hopefully this core stays here for next season. Hawkins, Christie, Mitchell, Carrington, Garcia, and Payne can make a really good foundation next season. With Asuma coming in next season too, the team could make some serious noise if they're able to add a difference maker or two in the portal without losing one of the 6 guys mentioned above (though it wouldn't totally surprise me if Carrington were to transfer).
Waiting for the invite to the Quick Lane Bowl. 😉
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
I expect that they will catch a bid to the NIT.
Gophers season (likely) ends with a 77-67 loss to MSU.
Was a very good game until the last 5ish minutes. Garcia picked up his 4th foul and MSU took full advantage, driving the lane knowing it would be wide open with both Gophers post defenders having 4 fouls.
Hopefully this core stays here for next season. Hawkins, Christie, Mitchell, Carrington, Garcia, and Payne can make a really good foundation next season. With Asuma coming in next season too, the team could make some serious noise if they're able to add a difference maker or two in the portal without losing one of the 6 guys mentioned above (though it wouldn't totally surprise me if Carrington were to transfer).
Ummm...it was definitely not a good game most of the second half once Fox committed #4 and MSU got the lead. MSU adjusted long before the 5 minute mark and the Gophers never adjusted, not once. Outside of a couple 3s from Christie the team faded hard at about the 10 minute mark. It didn't help that Garcia had a 5 minute stretch where he missed 2 3s he had no business taking, missed a layup so easy my dead grandma could have hit it and pouted on defense so badly people went around him like he was a pillar at Williams Arena. Then you add in that Payne was a black hole of suck and the Gophers were pretty much out of it the second Fox got foul 4.
In fact, most of the second half the Gophers defense was really bad. MSU figured out if they just don't play a half court offense they can run circles around our guys and boy did they.
They are going to need some help to get the NIT bid...and right now their NET ranking puts them on the outside looking in.
Even if I was sure all 6 of the players you named came back that I would think they would be any better than a bubble team which gets Ben fired. Hawkins and Christie I trust (most of the time...Hawkins sometimes bugs me to no end) but Garcia seems to think he is in the NBA so he needs to shoot long range at all the worst times and Payne has size but the basketball IQ of my cat.
I don't know that I want Ben fired...im straddling that line right now because we appeared to improve. But the truth is, in game I don't know how much I trust his decisions. We never change philosophies whether winning or losing. We never pressure the ball defensively, we almost never run offensively, it is just your basic half court offense. We drove the lane more this year thanks to Hawkins, but it just never felt like the team knew how to exploit a lot of teams weaknesses. I mean this was not a great MSU team and just a slight adjustment to their game plan was enough to turn a back and forth game into a pretty easy win down the stretch. This is going to leave a very bitter taste in a lot of people's mouths and rightfully so.
1-5 in last 6 games of the season. Not exactly against murderers row either. Ugly.
Obviously not the finish the team or us were looking for but three of the losses were on the road to teams that finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the Big Ten. The other two loses were to Indiana and Michigan State who both finished .500 in the conference.
5 of their last 6 games were against teams who finished .500 or better in the conference.
This team is so crazy better than it was last year and out performed anything that should have been reasonably expected. Unfortunate they faded so much the last month, but they have a winning record coming off a 2 win B1G season.
If they can keep their core I'm excited for this team. But that's a big IF.
Not one of Dawson Garcia's best performances! Definitely not ready to turn pro!!
Obviously not the finish the team or us were looking for but three of the losses were on the road to teams that finished 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in the Big Ten. The other two loses were to Indiana and Michigan State who both finished .500 in the conference.
5 of their last 6 games were against teams who finished .500 or better in the conference.
Yeah but the counter to that is the conference was not very good. And MSU was the 8 seed and a .500 conference team so not exactly the creme de la creme.
That is the problem...this record in a normal Big Ten season and we aren't questioning. This Big Ten is not exactly the Big East in its hey day. And with a terrible non-con schedule it just doesn't feel legit. If we had lost to Purdue in this fashion that is one thing...but a .500 MSU team? Yeesh...
I want to believe and again I am not advocating for a firing but...this is team is more than a couple pieces away IMHO.
Tom Izzo’s thoughts on the Gophers. I want what he’s having.
Tom Izzo after beating Gophers: ‘They will come into next year as the favorites’
https://fox9.com/sports/tom-izzo-beats-gophers-big-ten-tournament
Agreed. I support the basketball team, but that’s preposterous statement tournament stuff.
Is the BT really that far down compared to last year? The conference won 6 games combined with 8 teams in the 2023 NCAA tournament.
That said if Johnson is retained he's got to coach this team to not blow so many leads and do a better job at adjusting in-game. What is impressive is they obviously won more games including several coming from behind.
Not too much of a shocker, but Michigan fired Howard today.
https://twitter.com/KatieJStrang/status/1768701800788664403
I'm 50% factual and 50% sarcastic. When you get to know me, you will know which is which.
Good for them, would be great if they could get one more win.
I mean good for them...but they made it because like 4 teams declined before they were even offered. (all of whom likely make it)
But still it is nice to see and I am happy for them!
More practice time!
/sid hartman
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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Gophers get the win over Butler and advance. Great game, two 18-14 teams really batttling.
Parker Fox with a game-saving play to steal a pass with about 12 seconds left, throws the ball up to Elijah Hawkins who eventually got fouled and hit both FTs with around 5 seconds left.
Butler got the ball across midcourt and called timeout with 1.8 seconds left to draw up a play and then Braeden Carrington did a fantastic job defensively on the game winning shot attempt.