Not losing is still winning
Posted on February 12, 2009 by JF in 2008-2009
I hope you can forgive me taking to long to write about Minnesota’s “win” over Indiana on Tuesday night. After watching the Gophers show little intensity or intuition on the offensive end against the worst defensive team in the Big Ten, my motivation was lacking, though apparently not as much as the Gophers’ motivation to demonstrate a coherent understanding of an offensive strategy.
This was one of those games where winning just wasn’t good enough. Indiana is probably the worst team in their state, and would face a real challenge if they had to play Wabash Institute of Cannonball Sciences. The Gophers could play horribly and still win easily. Unfortunately that is exactly what we saw.
The Gophers still can’t shoot, as evidenced by another 40% shooting performance and another game in which they didn’t crack 25% from the outside. This wouldn’t be a problem if Minnesota’s opponents thought the Gophers could shoot. When defenses are extended, Al Nolen and Lawrence Westbrook are able to beat their defenders off the dribble and Ralph Sampson and Colton Iverson are able to operate with a little more room on the inside. Whether it is just a slump or the Gophers simply can’t shoot anymore, word has spread.
Al Nolen, who arguably has one the quickest first steps in the conference, now has to deal with defenders sagging feet off of him. This not only takes away the drive, his only real offensive weapon, but also takes away the interior passing angles, forcing his teammates to post up far from the basket and in no real position to score. The predictable results of this predicament were on full display.
The Gophers did make some effort to pump a little life into their stagnant offense. For the past several games Minnesota would walk the ball up the court, taking more valuable time from what is already a slow to develop offense. On Tuesday they sprinted up court on the first several possessions. It was a good idea that unfortunately didn’t produce results.
In the grand scheme of things a high powered offense isn’t essential if a team takes care of the ball. The Gophers couldn’t do that either, committing 19 turnovers. These weren’t good turnovers either. Without watching the game again, and there is no way I am about to do that, there isn’t a definitive way to explore the box score to determine which turnovers were indeed acceptable, but looking at Indiana’s defensive statistics is a start. The Hoosiers had only seven steals and seven blocks, meaning at the very least the Gophers committed five turnovers that had nothing to do with Indiana. Add to that some steals on lazy passes and drives, particularly by Lawrence Westbrook that did not have a chance, and you have a recipe for ugliness.
Thank goodness for Paul Carter and Kelvin Sampson. Carter was by far the most athletic player on the court, and scored a game high 22 points on everything from garbage, a three pointer, an alley-oop dunk, and follow up dunk on his own missed dunk. And thank you Mr. Sampson. Only a team made up of entirely new players would find a way to commit turnovers on 38.6% of their possessions.
While their performance was disappointing, don’t write the Gophers off just yet. Several players were reportedly suffering from some sort of stomach ailment, something not conducive to anything basketball related. This year’s Indiana team doesn’t exactly inspire greatness either. The Gophers have played down to lesser opponents all year. Remember when they beat only two non-conference opponents by more than 20 points? Heading towards the end of the season, facing inferior competition is even less likely to inspire an all around well played game. It is true that the Gophers will be in all sorts of trouble if they play the rest of the season like they did on Tuesday. Hopefully this Saturday at Penn State they can get it together. For a rebuilding year, it is hard to complain when winning half their games against the bottom of the Big Ten will all but assure a trip to the NCAA tournament.
Who did what?
- Ralph Sampson III caught a bit of a turnover bug, but his ability to knock down free throws and sheer dominance on the offensive glass and over Tom Pritchard (held scoreless) more than made up for it.
- Damian Johnson was completely out of sync, and didn’t score.
- Colton Iverson was considerably aggressive on the offensive end and scored six points in twelve minutes.
- Lawrence Westbrook didn’t make a shot from the field. It is a wonder the Gophers found a way to win with their two leading scorers combining for just about nothing.
- Al Nolen can’t shoot, except from point blank range on a breakaway. Luckily he had four steals and two big dunks. He also cut way down on his turnovers, with only one with his five assists.
- Paul Carter can shoot free throws too, a fact all to often lost in the box score. Though he can’t always finish, he can consistently get to the line, and is Minnesota’s most aggressive offensive player. On Tuesday he made 7-8 free throws.
- Devoe Joseph showed some promising signs on offense, especially flashing into the lane and knocking down a mid-range jumper. His patience on offense needs to improve, and unless he brings down his turnovers (four more on Tuesday) he won’t be taking over the point guard spot for a while.
- Devron Bostick took one three pointer that missed by three feet and a moment later knocked down running floater. He added two assists and two steals in nine minutes.
- Blake Hoffarber was limited by the mystery illness and scored two points.
- Jamal-Abu Shamala had a non-descript five points (note the lack of description).
- Jonathan Williams, in an effort to define his entire career in five seconds, missed a dunk and committed a stupid foul trying to grab the rebound.
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