The Gophers went a perfect 12-0 against a cupcake non-conference schedule, can they fins success in conference play?
Halfway through her second season, Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball head coach Dawn Plitzuwiet has had to deal with two significant foot injuries to her best player. Last year the Gophers struggled in Big Ten play once Mara Braun was lost for this season. Thus year Braun was injured halfway through the non-conference portion of the schedule, and the Gophers did not seem to miss a beat running through the non-con with a perfect 12-0 result. But, the Gophers did get a major wake-up call in their lone Big Ten game of the season three weeks ago in Lincoln. Nebraska dominated the Gophers in al portions of the game and cruised to an easy 84-65 win.
The Gophers will have no non-conference cupcakes to feat on any longer as they will reenter Big Ten play on Saturday afternoon when they host Penn State at the Barn. Minnesota takes their 12-1 record into the final 17 regular season Big Ten games where they will see some of the nation’s best teams over the next two months. UCLA is currently the #1 ranked team in both the AP and coaches poll and USC and star player JuJu Watkins is currently wither #4 or #5. Minnesota will face both teams on their home courts in a three day stretch at the end of January and early February Maryland is #8 and Ohio State is #10 in the nation—the Gophers have to travel to both those teams as well. Add in #19 Michigan State to close out the regular season in East Lansing and the Gophers road Big Ten schedule is an absolute gauntlet. It will be a major change from beating up on team like North Florida and Prairie View A&M on your home court.
The Gophers home schedule is where they will need to take care of business if they want to amass enough of a resume to make an NCAA bid possible. The Gophers will only face a pair of home ranked opponents in Iowa and Michigan in their nine home conference games. Minnesota will need to find a way to win those 50-50 games at home starting with the game against the Nittany Lions on Saturday.
Since Braun has been out, the Gophers have relied a lot more on freshman guard Tori McKinney to fill both a defensive and scoring role. Her 9.3 points per game ranks third on the team outside of Braun and her 40.7 % from three point range ranks second on the squad. She also is the best free throw shooter on the team going 28-30 to start the season. But, she’s also a true freshman who will be thrown into the fire as conference play gets hot and heavy. That’s where the Gophers will reply on what appears to be their most clutch pull out of the transfer portal this offseason. Fifth year senior Annika Stewart joined the Gophers this season after four years in Lincoln playing for Nebraska. The 6’3 Wayzata grad has shown off her scoring potential both inside and from beyond the arc. She leads the team in scoring averaging 11.7 points per game, and is shooting 46.5% from three point range. he has come off the bench in a 6th player role in general this season but will need to be a big producer for the Gophers as their depth has been hammered early in the season.
Besides Braun, the Gophers also lost Michigan transfer Taylor Woodson earlier this year after she tore her ACL in a game. Woodson was playing a large role off the bench for Minnesota scoring just over eight points per game and playing 17 minutes per contest. Since her loss, the Gophers have had to play their starters a bit more, something that may have detrimental effect as the season drags on. Amaya Battle, McKinney, Grace Grocholski, Mallory Heyer and Sophie Hart have all started the last eight games since Braun went down. But, they do leave a lot to be desired in some matchups—which are ripe to be exploited in conference play. Grocholski is a great shooter and on-ball defender, but faster opponents give her some trouble. The same goes for Hart—she can struggle against quicker post players and get into foul trouble. But Minnesota does not have a great defensive replacement for Hart. The Gophers have had to reach deeper into their bench giving more time to Maggie Cinzano, Nia Holloway and Alexisa Rose, but none of those players can give the same production the starters can. Thus, Minnesota if they are to have success needs great performances from their starting five, and can not get into a track meet. It’s not a great way to win in the Big Ten, but somehow Plitzuweit will need to get her team there.
We will know a lot more about this team over the next week. The Gophers host Penn State Saturday, then head to Madison to play Wisconsin on Tuesday before hosting Illinois next Sunday. All three games are very winnable for this Gophers team, and frankly probably need to be wins if Minnesota wants to try and hear their name called on Selection Sunday. Drop one, and it’s not the end of the world, but there will be a lot of work to be done to try and sneak out a game or two you maybe shouldn’t be winning on the back end later in the year. Go 1-2 or worse, and Minnesota will need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do next, as it could be an indication that the Big Ten schedule may be a slog that the Gophers just can’t escape.
Saturday’s home conference opener is set for a 3PM tip and the game will air live on Big Ten Network.