UND (1-3) @ Minnesota (2-3) 11/24 6 PM

[SWSiouxMN]

Despite a career effort and a near triple double from Rebraca, they were not able to overcome 20 turnovers and cold 3 point shooting in a loss to Milwaukee.  UND finishes the road stand with a trip to historic Williams Arena to take on the Gophers.

About Minnesota:  The Gophers are coming off a season where they finally won an NCAA Tournament game under Pitino.  They said goodbye to two very good players in Murphy (graduation) and Coffey (NBA) and a few good reserve players.  So this will amount of what could be a retooling year of sorts for the Gophers with a lot of youth on the squad.  It helps that they finally get the Pitt Transfer eligible (thank the NCAA logic for that) but they will be without the services of Eric Curry who is out again with an injury.  They do have two talented sophomores in Gabe Kascheur and Daniel Orturu to build around, but this might be a team that is more than likely your traditional "one year away".  For Pitino, who is in his 7th year (114-95, 40-70 in Big 10) at Minnesota, is still a very young coach trying to figure things out.  He has two major issues right now:  His Big 10 record is awful, and has finished in the top half of the conference only once.  His second one could be debatable, but while he has landed some good players in-state, he has yet to land a big fish.  This week, Dawson Garcia committed to Marquette, which was another blow to keep a big time player home.  While he could point to Orturu and Kascheur has players who wanted to stay home (and Jarvis as well, but he hasn't done much so far) they weren't the big names.  When Suggs announces (and more than likely goes out of state) the fire will rise once again against Pitino.  He's gotten the Gophers to the NCAA 2 out of the last 3 years and has a young squad and has some talent coming next year, but at some point... he's got to start winning in the Big 10.  

Key Player: Daniel Orturu (17 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 3.4 bpg)

Daniel had a solid freshman campaign last year and is building off of it so far this year.  Has been an near automatic double-double when he steps on the court, including a 21 point-18 rebound performance in a loss against Butler.  Has been a little turnover happy at times.  Starting to expand his game a little and will shoot the 3 if given the opportunity (but will not live out there).  Will be one of the better big men in the Big 10 potentially as soon as the end of the year but the Sophomore from Cretin has been the leader of this young squad. 

Fun Stats:

Rebraca leads the conference in field goal percentage (73.2%) and is in the top 20 nationally in that category as well.

UND leads the conference in blocked shots

Series History:  Minnesota leads the series 1-0, with that game played back in 2014. 

Early Summit Thoughts: As stated in a previous topic, I will share out some early season thoughts

1) USD showing that they are the Summit Leagues best right now with a 5-1 record and some nice wins so far on the year.  Lost to Arkansas tonight, but that is forgivable.  Getting Tyler Hagedorn back and not using Umude to transfer has been a godsend to the Yotes.  Given their schedule, they should be at 11-3 or 12-2 into conference play.

2) NDSU has some struggles on offense but might have the best defense in the conference, only have given up 70 points once so far.  The problem?  Offense isn't doing enough.  The defending champs were always pointing to this year as being the year but sometimes things break your way.  The Bison will be a tough nut to crack on the defensive end, if the offense catches up, no reason why they can't repeat.

3) Nice win for Omaha to take down Wazzu, perhaps they can still make some noise this year.

4) If ORU has the answers at guard with Burns and Abmas to go with their stud big men... they might be the team that breaks the Dakota Monopoly that they have on the Summit.

Keys:

1) Cut down on the turnovers: UND needs to start taking care of the ball better.  It means that they need to slow down, execute the offense, and make smarter choices when they have the ball.  Do not panic when you have the ball and stay in control.  Be more like Gonzaga, where they only turned the ball over 6 times.

2) Get Moody going early: He has been too quiet and is the teams best 3 point shooter, he needs to start showing that and getting hot. 

3) Oruru vs Rebraca: This will be a great test for Rebraca,  should be a great battle between two big men in the post. 

The Call:

Wouldn't this be a great way to start off the week, with the hockey series the following weekend it would be a good start to start a big UND week of sports... well that is a dream.  This is reality:  UND is still trying to figure things out and it will be tough for them to get the win in Williams.  What I would like to see from them, is growth and signs of them start to put things together.  I would love to see Rebraca stand tall and get another double-double against tough competition.  I think UND keeps it close for a while, but the Gophers pull it out in the end

Minnesota 81-68

Game will be on Big Ten Network, thought about personally attending this one but couldn't quite get the future misses to commit. 

 

[BarnWinterSportsEngelstad]

Nice write up and congratulations!

So we play the Gophers in MBB and then in MH, can we get 2 out of 3?

[SiouxScore]

This is a much different Gopher team than the last few years. The last few years you had Amir Coffey's ability to get to the hoop and really this offense was predicated on getting to the rim and getting to the free throw line. The other big part of the offense was throwing it to the walking double double Jordan Murphy on the block and letting him go to work inside. This year they will throw it to Oturu inside but he can also step out and hit the 3 and plays very well in space. The ball movement is much crisper with this years squad and they shoot it a ton better than they have the past few seasons.

Daniel Oturu is the top player for the Gophers and has been very good this year. The only problem is some times he doesn't get enough touches. The last game against Central Michigan he really didn't do much as they doubled him before he even got the ball some times. If he keeps playing as well as he has in the stretch against Oklahoma, Butler, and Utah he could be a 1st round pick after this year.

The rest of the Gopher starters are PG Marcus Carr. He has been a little frustrating as he has been very up and down in the early going. He sometimes over dribbles the ball and makes some bad decisions but more often than not he has been moving the ball well and he can create for others as well as himself. He has really struggled at the free throw line and he has got there a decent number of times so that is a big part of the frustration. SG/SF Gabe Kalscheur and Peyton Willis. Both are excellent defenders and great 3 point shooters. Gabe struggled with his shot a little early in the season but seemed to find it a little against Central Michigan with 5 3 pointers. Willis handles the ball a little better and has been very consistent with just one bad game at Utah. The PF spot has mostly been grad transfer Alihan Demir. He has really struggled to finish around the rim and on the defensive end at times as well. Seems like he is still trying to fit in to his new role. He has been a little better the last couple games.

Bench-You will probably see SR Michael Hurt as first off the bench. He isn't real flashy but usually makes the right play and is in the right spot. He will spend time at the 3 and 4 and is coming off his best game of the season. FR Tre Williams will get minutes at the 2/3  and is a solid defender that can hit the 3 if left open. SO Jarvis Omersa will probably play the backup 5 minutes. He is the best athlete on the floor nearly every time he steps on it. Tendency to pick up fouls. Loads of potential but play needs to be more consistent in his time on the court. FR Isaiah Ihnen will probably get the backup 4 minutes. He is a long lean athlete that has loads of potential. He missed the first 3 games with a wrist injury. In each of the games he has played he has knocked down a 3 and done a good job of creating a couple turnovers with deflections.

[SWSiouxMN]

4 minutes ago, SiouxScore said:

This is a much different Gopher team than the last few years. The last few years you had Amir Coffey's ability to get to the hoop and really this offense was predicated on getting to the rim and getting to the free throw line. The other big part of the offense was throwing it to the walking double double Jordan Murphy on the block and letting him go to work inside. This year they will throw it to Oturu inside but he can also step out and hit the 3 and plays very well in space. The ball movement is much crisper with this years squad and they shoot it a ton better than they have the past few seasons.

Daniel Oturu is the top player for the Gophers and has been very good this year. The only problem is some times he doesn't get enough touches. The last game against Central Michigan he really didn't do much as they doubled him before he even got the ball some times. If he keeps playing as well as he has in the stretch against Oklahoma, Butler, and Utah he could be a 1st round pick after this year.

The rest of the Gopher starters are PG Marcus Carr. He has been a little frustrating as he has been very up and down in the early going. He sometimes over dribbles the ball and makes some bad decisions but more often than not he has been moving the ball well and he can create for others as well as himself. He has really struggled at the free throw line and he has got there a decent number of times so that is a big part of the frustration. SG/SF Gabe Kalscheur and Peyton Willis. Both are excellent defenders and great 3 point shooters. Gabe struggled with his shot a little early in the season but seemed to find it a little against Central Michigan with 5 3 pointers. Willis handles the ball a little better and has been very consistent with just one bad game at Utah. The PF spot has mostly been grad transfer Alihan Demir. He has really struggled to finish around the rim and on the defensive end at times as well. Seems like he is still trying to fit in to his new role. He has been a little better the last couple games.

Bench-You will probably see SR Michael Hurt as first off the bench. He isn't real flashy but usually makes the right play and is in the right spot. He will spend time at the 3 and 4 and is coming off his best game of the season. FR Tre Williams will get minutes at the 2/3  and is a solid defender that can hit the 3 if left open. SO Jarvis Omersa will probably play the backup 5 minutes. He is the best athlete on the floor nearly every time he steps on it. Tendency to pick up fouls. Loads of potential but play needs to be more consistent in his time on the court. FR Isaiah Ihnen will probably get the backup 4 minutes. He is a long lean athlete that has loads of potential. He missed the first 3 games with a wrist injury. In each of the games he has played he has knocked down a 3 and done a good job of creating a couple turnovers with deflections.

You think much higher about Jarvis than I do, I watched him quite a few times in HS and always came away with the same thought:  What am I missing?

[SiouxScore]

17 hours ago, SWSiouxMN said:

Despite a career effort and a near triple double from Rebraca, they were not able to overcome 20 turnovers and cold 3 point shooting in a loss to Milwaukee.  UND finishes the road stand with a trip to historic Williams Arena to take on the Gophers.

About Minnesota:  The Gophers are coming off a season where they finally won an NCAA Tournament game under Pitino.  They said goodbye to two very good players in Murphy (graduation) and Coffey (NBA) and a few good reserve players.  So this will amount of what could be a retooling year of sorts for the Gophers with a lot of youth on the squad.  It helps that they finally get the Pitt Transfer eligible (thank the NCAA logic for that) but they will be without the services of Eric Curry who is out again with an injury.  They do have two talented sophomores in Gabe Kascheur and Daniel Orturu to build around, but this might be a team that is more than likely your traditional "one year away".  For Pitino, who is in his 7th year (114-95, 40-70 in Big 10) at Minnesota, is still a very young coach trying to figure things out.  He has two major issues right now:  His Big 10 record is awful, and has finished in the top half of the conference only once.  His second one could be debatable, but while he has landed some good players in-state, he has yet to land a big fish.  This week, Dawson Garcia committed to Marquette, which was another blow to keep a big time player home.  While he could point to Orturu and Kascheur has players who wanted to stay home (and Jarvis as well, but he hasn't done much so far) they weren't the big names.  When Suggs announces (and more than likely goes out of state) the fire will rise once again against Pitino.  He's gotten the Gophers to the NCAA 2 out of the last 3 years and has a young squad and has some talent coming next year, but at some point... he's got to start winning in the Big 10.  

Key Player: Daniel Orturu (17 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 3.4 bpg)

Daniel had a solid freshman campaign last year and is building off of it so far this year.  Has been an near automatic double-double when he steps on the court, including a 21 point-18 rebound performance in a loss against Butler.  Has been a little turnover happy at times.  Starting to expand his game a little and will shoot the 3 if given the opportunity (but will not live out there).  Will be one of the better big men in the Big 10 potentially as soon as the end of the year but the Sophomore from Cretin has been the leader of this young squad. 

Fun Stats:

Rebraca leads the conference in field goal percentage (73.2%) and is in the top 20 nationally in that category as well.

UND leads the conference in blocked shots

Series History:  Minnesota leads the series 1-0, with that game played back in 2014. 

Early Summit Thoughts: As stated in a previous topic, I will share out some early season thoughts

1) USD showing that they are the Summit Leagues best right now with a 5-1 record and some nice wins so far on the year.  Lost to Arkansas tonight, but that is forgivable.  Getting Tyler Hagedorn back and not using Umude to transfer has been a godsend to the Yotes.  Given their schedule, they should be at 11-3 or 12-2 into conference play.

2) NDSU has some struggles on offense but might have the best defense in the conference, only have given up 70 points once so far.  The problem?  Offense isn't doing enough.  The defending champs were always pointing to this year as being the year but sometimes things break your way.  The Bison will be a tough nut to crack on the defensive end, if the offense catches up, no reason why they can't repeat.

3) Nice win for Omaha to take down Wazzu, perhaps they can still make some noise this year.

4) If ORU has the answers at guard with Burns and Abmas to go with their stud big men... they might be the team that breaks the Dakota Monopoly that they have on the Summit.

Keys:

1) Cut down on the turnovers: UND needs to start taking care of the ball better.  It means that they need to slow down, execute the offense, and make smarter choices when they have the ball.  Do not panic when you have the ball and stay in control.  Be more like Gonzaga, where they only turned the ball over 6 times.

2) Get Moody going early: He has been too quiet and is the teams best 3 point shooter, he needs to start showing that and getting hot. 

3) Oruru vs Rebraca: This will be a great test for Rebraca,  should be a great battle between two big men in the post. 

The Call:

Wouldn't this be a great way to start off the week, with the hockey series the following weekend it would be a good start to start a big UND week of sports... well that is a dream.  This is reality:  UND is still trying to figure things out and it will be tough for them to get the win in Williams.  What I would like to see from them, is growth and signs of them start to put things together.  I would love to see Rebraca stand tall and get another double-double against tough competition.  I think UND keeps it close for a while, but the Gophers pull it out in the end

Minnesota 81-68

Game will be on Big Ten Network, thought about personally attending this one but couldn't quite get the future misses to commit. 

 

Oturu was a huge commit he picked Minnesota over Kansas as a Junior in high school and the rest of the big boys were gonna be coming after him too. Kalscheur and Omersa were definitely more under the radar guys when you look at the offer list. Pitino was able to land Jarvis Johnson who never played because of a heart issue and Amir Coffey as big time recruits. Michael Hurt was thought to be a solid get when he committed although he really hasn't produced. It really is frustrating to see so many really good players leave for other places. It really seemed for a long time like they were gonna land Garcia and he is my top guy in the Minnesota '20 class. You could say Suggs as the top guy but I don't think he has ever been realistic. If he goes to college I'd be shocked if it wasn't Gonzaga and it has been that way since last winter although there is a very real chance he goes pro instead and plays in a place like Australia for a year. Lately it is a problem in both football and basketball to get the top Minnesota kids to stay home. You look at the last couple classes for football and the top 2 go to Notre Dame and Nebraska last year, this year is a little different with the top 2 being the 2 Minnehaha kids is Johnson and Suggs. Johnson is undecided but if he was gonna be a Gopher it seems like he would've committed already and Suggs will play basketball, even the 21 class the top 2 are committed already to Wisconsin and Iowa. On the basketball side of things in 19 they were after Hurt who went to Duke and Nnaji who went to Arizona who wanted some things that Pitino just wouldn't do and they went after Tyrell Terry(Stanford) a little but I think other guys were higher on the board. In the 20 class you have Garcia who picked Marquette, Carlson who picked Wisconsin, Crowl was a weird situation picking Wisconsin. His family was mad the Gophers didn't offer on a campus visit earlier in the spring even though they hadn't been able to watch him yet and they said they wanted to wait and see his progress. If the family wants to be mad about it that is fine but the Gophers offered as soon as they saw him play in the open period and 2 days after Wisconsin. Wisconsin had him on campus for their team camp but didn't offer after the camp instead waiting another 3 weeks. They also missed on Gabe Madsen who wanted to play with his brother and the Gophers didn't offer his brother so they both picked Cincinnati. Kerwin Walton is the guy still undecided in the class and the Gophers are trying on him but not sure I feel real confident in any locals in any sport right now. EDIT: Also missed Dain Dainja for the 2020 class. He is committed to Baylor. Gophers were after him early but the interest kind of trailed off because of academics. He has some work to do.

[SiouxScore]

14 minutes ago, SWSiouxMN said:

You think much higher about Jarvis than I do, I watched him quite a few times in HS and always came away with the same thought:  What am I missing?

I don't know if I ever think he will be a key guy but he has loads of athleticism. He is much better this year at understanding concepts and it seems like the game has slowed down for him a bit. He isn't ever going to be a big scorer with his skillset I don't think but he plays extremely hard, can grab some rebounds, and brings a ton of energy. Type of guy that seems like a great teammate as well.

[SiouxFan100]

My honest prediction is that we get beat by at least 25

[dmksioux]

Anyone else having there B1G channel saying the game is blacked out?

[SiouxFan100]

2 minutes ago, dmksioux said:

Anyone else having there B1G channel saying the game is blacked out?

So far it doesn’t say anything about being blacked out

channel 633 in Fargo 

BTNHD

[dmksioux]

I found it now. 

[Siouxperfan7]

Not a lot of green in the crowd, but I will be cheering loud!!  Hopefully most of the game!!

[SWSiouxMN]

Just got home

Hey!  We are winning!

[SWSiouxMN]

5-4 UND

[SWSiouxMN]

6-5 Gophers after the Gabe runner

[SWSiouxMN]

Gophers 6

UND 5

under 16 media

[SWSiouxMN]

Gophers 10

UND 6

[SWSiouxMN]

So question:

Is Marko hurt?

[SiouxFan100]

We are shooting 20%

[SWSiouxMN]

13-6 Gophers after the Jarvis dunk

13-1 run so far for da U

[SWSiouxMN]

Davids checked in, lets see what he's got

*Edit:   I don't see him.  Twitter lied. 

[SWSiouxMN]

15-6 Gophers

we don't look too hot right now

[SWSiouxMN]

Marlon gets a layup

15-8 Gophers

[SWSiouxMN]

Nice feed from Marlon to Rebraca

15-10 Gophers

[SWSiouxMN]

tip in by the Big German

Sather not happy with the effort on the defensive rebounding

Marlon Charge that was coming a mile away

17-10 Gophers

[SWSiouxMN]

Now Davids is in I see