Iowa (17) @ Minnesota (18) - 1/14/19

[Shades]

Minneapolis, MN - 7:00 PM ET
TV: ESPN2 (Beth Mowins & Debbie Antonelli)

Stream:
#17 Iowa vs. #18 Minnesota (W Basketball) (tvpli)

Audio:
vs. Iowa

Live stats:
SIDEARMLiveStats

 

[Shades]

Iowa women's basketball: Hawkeyes searching for road gold as they trek to Minnesota

Iowa’s biggest road woe? Well, it’s the issue that usually appears when the Hawkeyes stumble — not enough help, outside of Megan Gustafson. In its two conference road games, Iowa is shooting 20 percent from deep (7-for-35) and has had just one double-figure performance from a guard.
A small sample size? Sure. But it’s no secret that Iowa needs much more than its all-American post to slog through the Big Ten grind.
“You can’t stop shooting,” Bluder said, “but maybe you don’t take the first one that you look at — maybe you wait until you have that in-out opportunity. We’ve got shooters on this team; they’ve got to figure out their mojo.

Minnesota has experienced much of the same up-and-down play inside the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers roared to a 12-0 start, climbed as high as No. 13 in the Coaches Poll, then dropped three straight conference games.
Minnesota should be raring to go this week, though. Led by Kenisha Bell and Destiny Pitts, the Gophers have Iowa at their place in front of an ESPN2 audience. Former Minnesota and WNBA standout Lindsay Whalen has got Williams Arena rocking in her first year as head coach.

 

[Plebe]

From Charlie's latest bracketology article:

The Golden Gophers are out of the field this week. That might surprise people, as Minnesota was still ranking in the Top 25 heading into the week. The Gophers were expected to compete for a Big Ten championship. Despite a 12-3 record, Minnesota has done very little. The Gophers' only significant win is a home victory over Syracuse. Their nonconference schedule was shockingly poor (276 strength-of-schedule ranking), with Boston College as the only other top-100 opponent. The Gophers' RPI of 83 ranks better than that of Georgia, but the Lady Dogs are trending in the right direction. Minnesota is 1-3 in the Big Ten, with two of those losses coming by double digits.

 

[Plebe]

Gustafson has 11 points in the first 6 minutes of the game. Iowa leads, 18-14.

 

[Irish88]

Gustafson is tough!

 

[Shades]

23-19 Iowa end of first

I guess Gustafson got tired of all that scoring, so they sat her for a couple of minutes in the quarter.
She finishes quarter with 13 pts, 3 reb

Bell with 8 pts, 1 ast

 

[Shades]

Nice run for MIN

29-26 MIN 3 min into second

Noticing Gustafson doesn't do much on the defensive side. Keep going at her.

 

[Plebe]

Nice run for MIN

29-26 MIN 3 min into second

Noticing Gustafson doesn't do much on the defensive side. Keep going at her.

Minnesota switched to a zone and it completely changed the momentum of the game.

Gustafson's glaring weakness is defense. She's very conservative and mainly tries to avoid foul trouble.

 

[Plebe]

I didn't know that Kenisha Bell was a transfer from Marquette. Imagine how formidable they'd have been the past two years if she'd stayed.

 

[Shades]

40-32 MIN at the half

Held Gustafson to two points in the second quarter.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Iowa is pulling away, up 14 early in Q4.

 

[BigBird]

67-54 HAWKEYES @ 6:50, Q4

 

[BigBird]

Minny is running out of time. 4+ minutes left ...

 

[Plebe]

What a turnaround for Iowa in the 2nd half. From an 8-point halftime deficit to a 15-point lead midway through 4Q.

Gustafson is right about at her averages, 25 points and 12 rebounds.

 

[Plebe]

Elsewhere in the Big Ten: more carnage for ranked teams. Ohio State is leading Michigan State, 53-41 in 4Q. This could be OSU's 2nd consecutive win over an AP top 25 team.

 

[BigBird]

Antonelli has taken 5 minutes or so to lecture the WBB world on how unfair it is that UConn knows where it will be for the regional, but other teams don't. I find her irritating, so say the least.

 

[Plebe]

Gustafson finishes with 34 points and 13 rebounds. What a performance. Apparently a large portion of her tiny hometown of Port Wing, Wisconsin, made the trip to Minneapolis to watch this game (about 200 miles away).

I'll remind people that she was ranked #80 by Hoopgurlz coming out of high school.

Minnesota, meanwhile, is reeling from their 4th consecutive loss after starting the season 12-0.

 

[Shades]

Bad game plan by Whalen. You can't expect Lamke to handle Gustafson by herself. There should have been ball denial of some sort. There wasn't much of that happening.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The last minute of tOSU-MSU is gonna take about 10 minutes. Buckeyes need to keep hitting FTs. Sparty cut a double digit deficit down to 6.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I'll remind people that she was ranked #80 by Hoopgurlz coming out of high school.

There are a bunch of examples of this. The notion that someone has to be ranked in the top 20 or top 10 according to the "experts" in order to be an impact player has been proven false numerous times.

 

[Plebe]

The last minute of tOSU-MSU is gonna take about 10 minutes. Buckeyes need to keep hitting FTs. Sparty cut a double digit deficit down to 6.

Michigan State has had a UConn-like shooting night, only 30% on FGs and 11-19 from the FT line. Also, two of MSU's starters (Gaines and Clouden) have fouled out.

Ohio State has missed 12 free throws; otherwise, this game wouldn't be nearly as close as it is.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Buckeyes salt it away. Big 10 is a mess so far.

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

Antonelli has taken 5 minutes or so to lecture the WBB world on how unfair it is that UConn knows where it will be for the regional, but other teams don't. I find her irritating, so say the least.

Agree... Didn't think this was the time nor place for her to be throwing daggers at NCAA and their placement of Regionals. Her idea of Sweet 16 in one place has merit, but I suspect you run into logistics issues for teams, gyms, hotels for fans, etc... not that it can't be worked out. She clearly has an issue with UCONN...but who else goes to Albany....and who else would want to.

 

[Plebe]

Wins by unranked over ranked teams in the first 3 weeks of Big Ten play:

1. Rutgers over Maryland.
2. Michigan over Minnesota.
3. Northwestern over Michigan State.
4. Illinois over Minnesota.
5. Indiana over Michigan State.
6. Purdue over Iowa.
7. Ohio State over Indiana.
8. Ohio State over Michigan State.

 

[eebmg]

Minnesota switched to a zone and it completely changed the momentum of the game.

Gustafson's glaring weakness is defense. She's very conservative and mainly tries to avoid foul trouble.

Once she stayed out of foul trouble since they need he on the court, she could go full steam on the defensive end in the 4th Q. She had 3 blocks. Some quite impressive. She also had a real nice high post reversal drive which was quite a move. I hope she can make the transition to the next level. A real testament to hard work.