There’s no question Richard Pitino believes his Gophers basketball team would be in a different place with the bulk of the Big Ten season ahead if it hadn’t suffered key losses to injury earlier in the season.
It helped that the Gophers finally ran into an opponent more banged up than them Sunday, using their depth to wear down Northwestern in a 77-68 victory at Williams Arena.
Taking advantage of an inexperienced and shorthanded opponent, Daniel Oturu had 19 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Gophers (8-6, 2-2 in the Big Ten). Marcus Carr finished with 17 points and seven assists.
The Wildcats (5-8, 0-3), who lost their fourth straight game Sunday, lost the rebounding battle 43-28, which included giving up 15 offensive rebounds.
They played without freshmen Boo Buie, senior A.J. Turner and junior Anthony Gaines, who had season-ending shoulder surgery. Northwestern coach Chris Collins has one of the youngest teams in the Big Ten, but it’s also been a struggle to overcome injuries.
Pitino could relate with junior big man Eric Curry out for the season with a knee injury and former starting junior guard Payton Willis having missed three straight games with a bad ankle.
But a good sign for the Gophers moving forward was the return of Willis on Sunday. They definitely wished they had gotten the former Vanderbilt transfer back a game sooner after falling at Purdue 83-78 in double overtime on Thursday.
But Willis’ absence helped Pitino build confidence in freshman Tre’ Williams, who made his fourth consecutive start Sunday against Northwestern. Both Willis and Williams helped take pressure off Carr, who had 27 points but struggled with seven turnovers getting worn out late vs. Purdue.
Williams had a career-best 10 points, including a steal and dunk to give cap a 13-0 run and give Minnesota a 57-34 lead midway through the second half.
Northwestern used an 11-0 to get back into the game after Miller Kopp drilled three straight three-pointers. Pat Spencer, who led his team with 22 points and eight rebounds, converted a three-point play to cut it to 59-48 with 6:27 to play, but the scrappy Wildcats wouldn’t get within single digits until the waning minutes.
Oturu had his ninth double-double this season, which surpassed his total by one from his productive freshman season last year. In the last three games, the 6-foot-10 Woodbury product is averaging 23 points and 18 rebounds per game.
His breakout sophomore season has helped make up for the loss of Curry, who was expected to replace former All-Big Ten forward Jordan Murphy alongside Carr. Filling that role has been senior Alihan Demir, who finished with 11 points and nine rebounds Sunday.
Demir, a 6-9 graduate transfer from Turkey, was banged up with a knee injury and struggled in the loss at Purdue. But the Gophers were fortunate to have Demir and Willis back healthy at just the right time Sunday.
Next week, Pitino will watch his team get another big road test going up against Michigan State, which is undefeated in the Big Ten at 4-0 after beating rival Michigan over the weekend.
"wear" - Google News
January 05, 2020 at 06:36PM
https://ift.tt/37CDrZn
Gophers basketball uses depth to wear down Northwestern - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"wear" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35NDscS
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment