Indiana University Athletics
GRAHAM: At Least One Team Will Be Happier Saturday
2/15/2019 11:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Andy Graham, IUHoosiers.com
MINNEAPOLIS - How did Minnesota's Gophers feel?
Pretty much how the New Orleans Saints felt after this year's NFC title game, when a missed call likely cost the Saints a Super Bowl berth.
A controversial call on Minnesota's Amir Coffey afforded Nebraska's James Palmer a pair of decisive free throws, both of which Palmer swished, with 1.1 seconds left in Wednesday's 62-61 loss at Nebraska.
Minnesota coach Richard Pitino acknowledged Friday he had received clarification from the Big Ten office regarding the call and told the media:
"But I'm not going to go there, because it doesn't matter. Like with the Saints. They didn't play in the Super Bowl. So what does it matter? We move on.
"I thought we played well. Just didn't win the game. I think we played well on the road. I think the guys should be confident. They weren't perfect, by any means, but they did a lot of really, really good things in a tough environment. Just didn't go our way … on to Indiana."
The Gophers move on to host the Hoosiers for a 2 p.m. Saturday tipoff.
Their first chance to take the frustration out on somebody.
The Gophers clearly felt a principle-of-verticality application should have applied to the call on Coffey. Senior leader Jordan Murphy put it this way post-game to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
"I saw it wasn't a foul. It stings. It definitely stings to have the game taken away from you like that."
And it marked Minnesota's fourth straight setback during a tough stretch also featuring road losses at Purdue and Michigan State and a homecourt loss to Wisconsin.
Not that the Hoosiers don't also feel a sense of urgency.
Indiana, like Minnesota, remains on some lists to make the NCAA tournament field but needs to reverse its current trajectory. The Hoosiers have lost nine of 10, the lone exception an epic overtime win Feb. 2 at Michigan State.
IU (13-11 overall, 4-9 Big Ten) wasn't able to sustain momentum from that road wins over the then-No. 6 Spartans, dropping a pair of close home games last week to No. 20 Iowa (77-72) and Ohio State (55-52).
Coach Archie Miller has had a rare expanse of five days to prepare his Hoosiers for Saturday (though some upper respiratory illnesses affected some players). Senior center De'Ron Davis noted the focus Friday was on Minnesota, but much of the week the Hoosiers worked on themselves.
"Honestly, this whole week … we all just been focusing on us, and you know, trying to get us off the ground," Davis told the media Friday afternoon. "Today is a day we go over (the Gophers) and worry about what they are trying to do."
Pitino noted that Davis return for the MSU game – after an ankle injury kept him either limited or entirely out throughout January – made a significant difference for IU.
"Talented team," Pitino said of the Hoosiers. "Well-coached team. Play hard. Getting Davis back, for them, was important, because he really helps down low. They've got a very good low-post game. Romeo Langford is extremely talented."
Freshman winger Langford leads Indiana's scoring at 17.5 per game and adds 5.2 rebounds on average. Juwan Morgan, the 6-8 senior, averages 15.4 and 8.0. Three other Hoosiers average at least eight points: Justin Smith (8.6), Aljami Durham (8.2) and Devonte Green (8.0).
Injuries have undermined IU much of the season. Frosh point guard Rob Phinisee (6.4), Davis (4.4), senior co-captain Zach McRoberts and Green have all missed significant time. Freshman winger Jerome Hunter hasn't played at all after surgery earlier this season. Redshirt-freshman frontliner Race Thompson played one game but has sat since due to a severe concussion.
Thompson's dad Darrell is Minnesota football's all-time leading rusher and Miller said the younger Thompson might be ready to return to action during the return to his home state.
"Race has done a nice job in his last two and a half weeks of just practicing every day, hard," Miller said. "He hasn't missed. He's starting to get his conditioning level back and he's starting to move better.
"I do think there's an opportunity for us as a staff to keep evaluating things and find a way to give Race a crack at it, if it feels ready and we feel he can help. I think at this point in time, he's starting to see himself as, you know, sort of back in a rhythm, so to speak, to the best of his ability."
A healthy and ready Thompson could help against a sizable Gopher frontline featuring Murphy, an especially burly 6-7 averaging a double-double at 14.7 points and 11.9 boards, 6-8 junior Coffey (averaging a team-leading 15.2 points) and emerging 6-10 freshman center Daniel Oturu (11.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 39 shot-blocks).
Asked about Murphy, Miller replied: "He's a really terrific player. Obviously that goes without question. His numbers are incredible throughout his career. He's a senior. He is an unbelievably physically strong player and probably doesn't get as much credit as he deserves in terms of his rebounding. His rebounding on both ends of the floor is phenomenal.
"But his ability to drive the ball with power, his ability around the basket to just kind of like knock you off balance and be able to power through, his second jumps are incredible."
Miller also handed out plaudits when asked about Oturu, whose play has improved steadily.
"Oh, yeah, Daniel, he's a terrific player, too," Miller said. "Was really highly regarded coming out. Local kid who stayed home. 6-10, great length can really run the floor, has the touch out to 15 feet and in, turnaround jumpshots and he's very good obviously around the basket.
"He's going to be a really, really good player in our league for a long time. He's having a very good freshman season."
The Gophers can bring plenty of size off the bench, too, and has big guards in 6-5 senior Dupree McBrayer (9.4 ppg) and 6-4 freshman Gabe Kalscheuer (10.2).
Unlike the injury-plagued Hoosiers, Minnesota (16-9, 6-8) has had all five starters available for either every game (Coffey, Murphy, Kalscheur) or all but one game (McBrayer, Oturu).
Now that Davis is rounding back into shape a bit after the ankle injury, Miller said the Hoosiers might play Davis and Morgan together more – and Saturday might seem a good time for it, given Minnesota's size.
"Yeah, it's … obviously something we look forward to hopefully bringing to the table a little bit more," Miller said. "No. 1, it gets Juwan moving around a little bit more, with different players guarding him. He's able to guard different players, as well.
"We had that combination on the floor a few times in our last few games, and, you know, that lineup has been positive."
Pitino said his team wants to focus on the positive of playing back in Williams Arena, where it is 11-2 this season, rather than dwell overly much on the Nebraska denouement.
"We try to focus on a lot of things, not necessarily the result," Pitino said.
"The result didn't end in our favor last game, but I think our guys played well enough to win on the road in the Big Ten, which is not easy to do.
"We know, now, we have two in a row at home. I'm sure they're excited to play at home after playing, what, three of four on the road? I'm sure … our guys will be excited to play in front of our fans."
Indiana's next home game is 7 p.m. Tuesday against arch-rival Purdue. But the Hoosiers hope to set a positive tone heading into that one with a good performance Saturday.
"We're getting ready for obviously a tough road trip to Minnesota," Miller said. "Always a hard place to play. They have got a good team, battling through the season. Just in watching them play, they have had some great wins, and (we) know how difficult that's going to be.
"And then, obviously, the return home into the following couple weeks is going to be jam packed with a lot of games against great teams. So for us, we have plenty of opportunities. It's one day at a time … got some guys that are under the weather here a little bit, with the season, sort of going through some of that. But for the most part, we prepared well this week."
MINNEAPOLIS - How did Minnesota's Gophers feel?
Pretty much how the New Orleans Saints felt after this year's NFC title game, when a missed call likely cost the Saints a Super Bowl berth.
A controversial call on Minnesota's Amir Coffey afforded Nebraska's James Palmer a pair of decisive free throws, both of which Palmer swished, with 1.1 seconds left in Wednesday's 62-61 loss at Nebraska.
Minnesota coach Richard Pitino acknowledged Friday he had received clarification from the Big Ten office regarding the call and told the media:
"But I'm not going to go there, because it doesn't matter. Like with the Saints. They didn't play in the Super Bowl. So what does it matter? We move on.
"I thought we played well. Just didn't win the game. I think we played well on the road. I think the guys should be confident. They weren't perfect, by any means, but they did a lot of really, really good things in a tough environment. Just didn't go our way … on to Indiana."
The Gophers move on to host the Hoosiers for a 2 p.m. Saturday tipoff.
Their first chance to take the frustration out on somebody.
The Gophers clearly felt a principle-of-verticality application should have applied to the call on Coffey. Senior leader Jordan Murphy put it this way post-game to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
"I saw it wasn't a foul. It stings. It definitely stings to have the game taken away from you like that."
And it marked Minnesota's fourth straight setback during a tough stretch also featuring road losses at Purdue and Michigan State and a homecourt loss to Wisconsin.
Not that the Hoosiers don't also feel a sense of urgency.
Indiana, like Minnesota, remains on some lists to make the NCAA tournament field but needs to reverse its current trajectory. The Hoosiers have lost nine of 10, the lone exception an epic overtime win Feb. 2 at Michigan State.
IU (13-11 overall, 4-9 Big Ten) wasn't able to sustain momentum from that road wins over the then-No. 6 Spartans, dropping a pair of close home games last week to No. 20 Iowa (77-72) and Ohio State (55-52).
Coach Archie Miller has had a rare expanse of five days to prepare his Hoosiers for Saturday (though some upper respiratory illnesses affected some players). Senior center De'Ron Davis noted the focus Friday was on Minnesota, but much of the week the Hoosiers worked on themselves.
"Honestly, this whole week … we all just been focusing on us, and you know, trying to get us off the ground," Davis told the media Friday afternoon. "Today is a day we go over (the Gophers) and worry about what they are trying to do."
Pitino noted that Davis return for the MSU game – after an ankle injury kept him either limited or entirely out throughout January – made a significant difference for IU.
"Talented team," Pitino said of the Hoosiers. "Well-coached team. Play hard. Getting Davis back, for them, was important, because he really helps down low. They've got a very good low-post game. Romeo Langford is extremely talented."
Freshman winger Langford leads Indiana's scoring at 17.5 per game and adds 5.2 rebounds on average. Juwan Morgan, the 6-8 senior, averages 15.4 and 8.0. Three other Hoosiers average at least eight points: Justin Smith (8.6), Aljami Durham (8.2) and Devonte Green (8.0).
Injuries have undermined IU much of the season. Frosh point guard Rob Phinisee (6.4), Davis (4.4), senior co-captain Zach McRoberts and Green have all missed significant time. Freshman winger Jerome Hunter hasn't played at all after surgery earlier this season. Redshirt-freshman frontliner Race Thompson played one game but has sat since due to a severe concussion.
Thompson's dad Darrell is Minnesota football's all-time leading rusher and Miller said the younger Thompson might be ready to return to action during the return to his home state.
"Race has done a nice job in his last two and a half weeks of just practicing every day, hard," Miller said. "He hasn't missed. He's starting to get his conditioning level back and he's starting to move better.
"I do think there's an opportunity for us as a staff to keep evaluating things and find a way to give Race a crack at it, if it feels ready and we feel he can help. I think at this point in time, he's starting to see himself as, you know, sort of back in a rhythm, so to speak, to the best of his ability."
A healthy and ready Thompson could help against a sizable Gopher frontline featuring Murphy, an especially burly 6-7 averaging a double-double at 14.7 points and 11.9 boards, 6-8 junior Coffey (averaging a team-leading 15.2 points) and emerging 6-10 freshman center Daniel Oturu (11.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 39 shot-blocks).
Asked about Murphy, Miller replied: "He's a really terrific player. Obviously that goes without question. His numbers are incredible throughout his career. He's a senior. He is an unbelievably physically strong player and probably doesn't get as much credit as he deserves in terms of his rebounding. His rebounding on both ends of the floor is phenomenal.
"But his ability to drive the ball with power, his ability around the basket to just kind of like knock you off balance and be able to power through, his second jumps are incredible."
Miller also handed out plaudits when asked about Oturu, whose play has improved steadily.
"Oh, yeah, Daniel, he's a terrific player, too," Miller said. "Was really highly regarded coming out. Local kid who stayed home. 6-10, great length can really run the floor, has the touch out to 15 feet and in, turnaround jumpshots and he's very good obviously around the basket.
"He's going to be a really, really good player in our league for a long time. He's having a very good freshman season."
The Gophers can bring plenty of size off the bench, too, and has big guards in 6-5 senior Dupree McBrayer (9.4 ppg) and 6-4 freshman Gabe Kalscheuer (10.2).
Unlike the injury-plagued Hoosiers, Minnesota (16-9, 6-8) has had all five starters available for either every game (Coffey, Murphy, Kalscheur) or all but one game (McBrayer, Oturu).
Now that Davis is rounding back into shape a bit after the ankle injury, Miller said the Hoosiers might play Davis and Morgan together more – and Saturday might seem a good time for it, given Minnesota's size.
"Yeah, it's … obviously something we look forward to hopefully bringing to the table a little bit more," Miller said. "No. 1, it gets Juwan moving around a little bit more, with different players guarding him. He's able to guard different players, as well.
"We had that combination on the floor a few times in our last few games, and, you know, that lineup has been positive."
Pitino said his team wants to focus on the positive of playing back in Williams Arena, where it is 11-2 this season, rather than dwell overly much on the Nebraska denouement.
"We try to focus on a lot of things, not necessarily the result," Pitino said.
"The result didn't end in our favor last game, but I think our guys played well enough to win on the road in the Big Ten, which is not easy to do.
"We know, now, we have two in a row at home. I'm sure they're excited to play at home after playing, what, three of four on the road? I'm sure … our guys will be excited to play in front of our fans."
Indiana's next home game is 7 p.m. Tuesday against arch-rival Purdue. But the Hoosiers hope to set a positive tone heading into that one with a good performance Saturday.
"We're getting ready for obviously a tough road trip to Minnesota," Miller said. "Always a hard place to play. They have got a good team, battling through the season. Just in watching them play, they have had some great wins, and (we) know how difficult that's going to be.
"And then, obviously, the return home into the following couple weeks is going to be jam packed with a lot of games against great teams. So for us, we have plenty of opportunities. It's one day at a time … got some guys that are under the weather here a little bit, with the season, sort of going through some of that. But for the most part, we prepared well this week."
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