Minnesota moves to 0-3 on the road as they fall to the 10th ranked Michigan Wolverines 82-57 in a blowout. Minnesota entered the half down just six points, but got outscored 50-31 in half two, being down as many as 37 at one point.
TGR gives their three takeaways after the road loss:
Minnesota didn't invite Michigan to their second half slumber party
Diving to save the ball from going out of bounds, hustling back on every defensive possession, make or miss, talking on defense, getting deflections, making the extra pass. Michigan did these things in the second half, and Minnesota did none of these things. The second half was an absolute blowout from the word go.
Minnesota played with absolutely no energy. No one on the team looked like they were locked in to start the second half, and everyone on Michigan's team looked like they were playing for a chance to go to the National Championship while Minnesota was picking out the movie they would watch on the flight home.
The only one I saw that played with a real sense of urgency was when Sam Freeman got some minutes late, and he was one of the better players on the floor for Minnesota. The question should be whether he starts getting some of Eric Curry's minutes before the game gets out of hand.
At one point, Michigan went on a 20-0 run in the second half and completely put the game away. Then, the snowball effect came into play and everything Michigan threw at the rim went in, while Minnesota sparingly got shots to fall before the final buzzer. At one point, Michigan outscored Minnesota 38-7 in the second half. They put together a few more buckets when it was far too late to lose the half
Minnesota has fallen flat on the road in every attempt that they've had, but this team looked defeated as soon as Michigan's first four shots went through the hoop to start the half. This team needs to learn to take a punch and hit back when the comfort of home isn't there to protect them.
Gophers get dominated in the paint
From start to finish, the Michigan Wolverines dominated the paint on both ends of the court. Minnesota was outscored in the lane 46-to-20.
Michigan did a tremendous job making everything difficult for the Gophers. Every possession was a battle to get the ball inside the three-point line while the Wolverines had no problem getting inside.
In particular, Hunter Dickinson was dominant. He had no problem getting position inside, and when he got there, he was going to finish. The freshman that's getting All-Conference hype lived up to that and more tonight. His 28-point, eight rebound game came in 31 minutes of action, and he did it on 12/15 shooting from the field.
On the offensive end, Minnesota fell into the trap of shooting three's early and often and it was not a recipe for success. At the half, they shot 4/14 from three. With 11 minutes left in the game, they were shooting 4/17 from three before ending the game from deep.
Paint touches were at a minimum and that usually leads to offense that doesn't have much success unless you're a really good shooting team. At no time this season has Minnesota been that, so the success was lacking again.
The three-ball still doesn't love Minnesota back, and what has to change?
In the Gophers three road losses, they've shot 28, 31, and now 2 three's and not once made more than 10 of them. Actually, they have only made 10 three's or more this season twice. They made 10 in 25 attempts against St. Louis, and 17 in 43 attempts against Iowa in overtime.
Their 7/27 tonight for 25.9% was what's been usual for the Gophers when they leave home. But, why?
When I wrote my game preview, I assumed that there was enough film to identify what was going wrong and fix it but that didn't happen. When things got tough, they reverted back to what they've done in the past and that's little ball movement, little off-ball player movement, and missed shots.
It wasn't easy for Minnesota to get the ball into the post, and it wasn't easy for them to get a paint touch on a drive so they got back to their ball pounding and shot chucking ways.
This team is so good offensively when they play at home, and so poor when they are anywhere else. It's puzzling, and everyone who watches them when they leave the state of Minnesota is searching for what the answer is.
Is it energy, shot selection, gameplan, jet lag? (That one hour difference in Michigan is a doozy). Whatever it is, coach Pitino needs to find out and fix it. Minnesota is a very good team when they play at their potential, but the chance of them winning every game at home are slim in the Big Ten so he's going to need to find a way to beat someone on the road. I know Michigan is a great team, but they didn't even show up for the second half.
