After falling well short of expectations in their third conference game against Purdue, the Gophers rebounded for an impressive 73-62 victory over Evan Turner and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The game against Ohio State was important for a number of reasons. Primarily, it was a test to see just where the Gophers stacked up against a 2nd tier team in the conference. Sure, Minnesota rolled over Penn State and Iowa and got dumped by Purdue, but those were basically to be expected. What’s more important is how the Gophers stack up against teams like OSU, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Michigan. These games go a long ways in showing just where the Gophers sit in the conference in terms of talent and present a fairly accurate barometer of their tournament chances.
What we saw, finally, was consistent offensive output against a tough opponent. Minnesota has shot poorly against better teams this year (Texas A&M, Purdue) and their 45% clip was refreshing to see. What has dogged them in their losses has been poor shooting.
Also interesting was the lack of playing time from the “second string” line, including Joseph, Cobbs, Carter and Williams. Tubby is settling into a core lineup of Westbrook, Hoffarber, Nolen and Johnson, which definitely helps the flow of the offense. It’s apparent with the second string is on the floor that the offensive fluidity of the team drops off considerably.
Concerning, though, was just how lost Colton Iverson continues to look. Four TOs, two missed free throws, only one shot. These are numbers that can’t be accepted from your starting center. Iverson does a great job of carving out space and getting to the hoop, but he doesn’t have the hands to put points on the boards and has almost no touch. Ralph Sampson, on the other hand, looked much more comfortable than he has in recent games.
I think we’ll continue to see it as the conference season plays out, but the Gophers will live and die by their shooting percentage. We’ve seen their incredible defense keep them in games even when they shot 30%, but they just don’t have the free throw consistency to put up a W without shooting over 40%. When they are bricking shots and settling for mid-range jumpers, they won’t be winning many close games. However, the Ohio State game showed us that they do know how to put it together and put enough points on the board to win against a solid conference opponent.
