Gophers Fall at Home, Bounce Back at Indiana

On Thursday, the Gophers lost to Purdue 70-62 in a game that really wasn't even as close as the final score made it sound. Today, Minnesota was able to bounce back at Indiana to win 67-63 even though the Hoosiers had a week to prepare the game, sold tickets for $5 in order to get a sell out, and handed out t-shirts to White Out their arena. Here's one good thing and one bad thing about each game.

Purdue

The Good: Free Throw Shooting
The only good thing that transpired from the Purdue game was that the Gophers were able to take advantage of all the fouls being called by Ed Hightower and his officiating crew. The team went a combined 27 for 31 from the line. Without the efficiency at the free throw line this game could have gotten really out of hand.

The Bad: The Offense
For much of the game, the Gophers half-court offense consisted of Gopher guards taking their defenders off the dribble one-on-one. Al Nolen was effective at getting by his guy but frequently got stuck too far under the hoop or amongst several Purdue big men. This led to tough shots that Nolen was unable to convert. He finished the night 3 for 14 from the field. He wasn't alone in his shooting woes though as the Gophers shot a combined 28% from the floor and 15 % from three point land. The can be attributed to the Gophers lack of movement on offense and Purdue's high pressure half-court defense.

Indiana

The Good: RSIII
With Tubby putting an extra emphasis on getting the ball inside, Ralph stepped up for the Gophers in what was their third Big Ten road win of the season. It was Sampson's second solid game in a row. He finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds (4 offensive), and 6 blocks. As his stat line suggests, he made his presence felt on both ends of the court. After getting his obligatory air ball from 12 ft. out of the way early, Ralph had a couple nice post moves for easy buckets, a sweet alley oop dunk off a pass from DJ, and a key bucket off an offensive rebound to put the Gophers up 5 with less than a minute to play. His length on the defensive end was key to the Gophers neutralization of Indiana's inside game.

The Bad: Blake Hoffarber
The Hoff's recent struggles continued in today's game. He was 1 for 3 from three which isn't all bad but he also 3 turnovers. The biggest sign of the Hoff's troubles came in the first half when he did something that I thought had about 1,000,000:1 odds of ever happening. After getting fouled on a three point shot attempt Blake proceeded to MISS ALL THREE free throw attempts. I wouldn't be surprised to see Blake's minutes decrease in the next few games, especially if he continues this awful slump.