Pitino wants Gophers to play tougher
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - “It was just an off game.”
That’s the way junior guard Amir Coffey described Tuesday’s 82-67 loss to Maryland at Williams Arena. It was the Gophers’ first home loss of the season, and it dropped Minnesota to 2-2 in league play. It was especially frustrating for Minnesota, which had come off beating Wisconsin in Madison for the first time since 2009.
The Gophers were sluggish offensively in stretches and finished shooting just under 42 percent for the game. Leading 54-47 with 14:28 to play, the Terrapins went on a 22-7 run to take control and never relinquished the lead. Most disappointing for the Gophers was a 9-of-23 performance at the free-throw line. It was the second time they've missed 14 free throws or more in a game this season. They missed 15 in an 80-66 win over Santa Clara that was part of the Vancouver Showcase.
Minnesota is No. 2 in the Big Ten at free throws attempted per game. They need to take advantage of the free shots when they get them. Coffey and Jordan Murphy, Minnesota’s top two scorers, went a combined 6-of-17 at the line Tuesday.
“I missed a few, Murphy missed a few. We’re going to keep getting to the line. Obviously we’re working on our free throws and we’ll be back and start hitting them again. It was just an off game for everybody,” Coffey said.
Gophers’ coach Richard Pitino isn’t terribly concerned about the free-throw shooting struggles. Shooting can be streaky. Pitino described Minnesota’s free throws as “scud missiles,” while Maryland was hitting nothing but the net.
What he is concerned about is missed shots leading to frustration on the other end of the floor, allowing opponents to set up their offense and get good looks themselves.
“The problem I had with the free throws is I thought it zapped our energy. I thought the game changed when we missed open shots, we missed free throws and I hated the fact that we didn’t fight through that,” Pitino said. “We’re not a 39 percent free throw shooting team, we’re better than that. But regardless of anything else, we’ve got to have the toughness to be able to get a stop and move on and just get over it. You have to move on.”
The Gophers have to turn the page as they have an opportunity to get to 5-2 in the Big Ten with wins in their next three games. The stretch starts with an 11:30 a.m. Saturday tip against Rutgers at Williams Arena. They then travel to Illinois next Wednesday and host Penn State next Saturday night.
The Scarlet Knights, Illini and Nittany Lions are three of the bottom four teams in the Big Ten with a combined 1-13 record in league play. Rutgers got that lone victory over No. 16 Ohio State Thursday night. They did it largely without their top scorer and rebounder, Eugene Omoruyi, who dislocated his knee cap.
Omoruyi had been averaging 14.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He will not play Saturday. But their approach won’t change. They’re physical, they rebound and they play with energy.
“They are going to try to obliterate you on the glass. They’re going to try to maul you, not fouling, but they’re going to physically try to over-power you,” Pitino said. “I think they’re going to be tough for everybody, they’re going to compete with everybody.”
The Gophers need to execute better on offense, and they’ll be looking for senior forward Jordan Murphy to step up. Murphy was recently named to the Wooden Top 25 Award list, but has struggled of late.
In three of his four Big Ten games, Murphy has just six shots per game. In the win over Nebraska, Murphy was 5-of-12 from the field for 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. They need Murphy to play more aggressively and consistently to win more Big Ten games.
“He’s gotta go find it. We’re not running anything different, he’s got to do a better job of finding it throughout the flow of the offense. It’s not always going to come from just dumping it into the post,” Pitino said. "The better he moves throughout the flow of the offense, he’s going to get shots because that’s not enough shots."
In the long-range view, there is no panic among the Gophers. They’re 12-3 in their first 15 games. There is a lot of season to play, but the Gophers face a critical stretch in their next three games.
That said, Pitino is looking for his team to be mentally tougher and overcome adversity throughout the course of a game.
“The Big Ten season is really long, especially now that it’s 18 games. You just kind of have to take it in stretches and my freshman year was a perfect example,” junior Michael Hurt said. “We lost five straight, then won eight in a row. I think you just have to take it one game at a time.”
That starts with beating Rutgers Saturday without its best player.