The Minnesota Gopher women routed Rutgers last night at the Barn 76-50 for their 4th straight Big 10 win. This makes the Gopher women not only one of the best stories of the 2024-2025 Minnesota basketball season, it also makes them one of if not the most unlikely story. I mean, here’s a program with 70 wins and 91 losses in the previous 5 years including 28-61 in the Big 10. And, then, on top of that, the Gophers have lost their leading scorer Mara Braun, super-sub Taylor Woodson and now super freshman Tori McKinney to injury. All of this misfortunate might have devastated a team like the Gophers, down on their luck, searching for an identity.
But, no. Since losing Braun to what is described as a likely season-ending break in her foot, the Gophers are 11-1 for an overall record now of 16-1. Since losing Woodson to an ACL, they’re 5-0. And last night they played without McKinney, out for an unspecified (and undoubtedly an unknown) period of time with a concussion. She came to Minnesota, well, not unheralded exactly, but overshadowed by high school teammate Aliyah Crump. The 2 of them led Minnetonka to the state title last year and Crump, then a junior, was the obvious favorite for Ms. Basketball this year until she transferred out to the Florida “basketball academy” Montverde (for those of you keeping score at home, Minnetonka is a high school with a basketball team; Montverde is a basketball team with a high school).
But returning to Tori McKinney, she scored 25 points in her first 5 Gopher games. She then scored in double figures in 9 of her next 11 games with a career high 25 against Penn State, which earned for her a national freshman of the week aware. But, now, the Gophers had to go out on the court without McKinney, without Braun, without Woodson.
All they did was jump out to leads of 8-2, 12-6, 17-9 and 19-11 at the quarter break as 5 different players scored and 6 of them had an assist. Sophie Hart was already en route to one of her best games of the year with 6 1st-quarter points while Grace Grocholski and Mallory Heyer each scored twice. Then, you can chalk up the 2nd quarter as the coming-out party for freshman McKenna Johnson. Johnson scored 13 points earlier against UMass-Lowell but, well, that was UMass-Lowell. She came into last night’s game with 30 points in her other 10 games. But, now, she scored 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting with 5 rebounds. A year ago, when Mara Braun got hurt, there was nobody to step in and to fill her spot. Now when Mara Braun got hurt, Tori McKinney stepped in, and when Tori McKinney got hurt, McKenna Johnson stepped in. Such is the upgrading of the Gopher roster that coach Dawn Plitzuweit is busily orchestrating. If and when Braun, Woodson and McKinney return, the Gophers could find themselves with a nine or ten-deep rotation, a luxury they surely have not had in a decade or more.
But, now, the plot surely thickens. The Gophers return to action on Tuesday at 14-1, #8-ranked Maryland, who just lost for the 1st time last night to #4-rated USC 79-74. And, over the next 5 weeks, they will play 5 other ranked teams–#25 Michigan, @ #4 USC, @ #1 UCLA, #23 Iowa and @ #9 Ohio State. The 4 teams the Gophers just beat are 2-16 in the Big 10; the six opponents just mentioned are 23-8. But, hey, the Gophers are way up there in 4th place at 4-1 and 16-1, right there between Ohio State and Maryland. Do they belong?
Well, hopefully, McKinney will be back. She may very well already be the Gophers best all-around player. And, they’re going to have to maintain their poise, which is something they didn’t do in their only loss on the road at Nebraska. Finally, you’ve got to acknowledge that 16-1 or no, the Gophers are not a great shooting team with a slash line of 44-33 and 74 percent shooting. Of course, that’s better than their opponents who are shooting a miserable 35-26 and 71 percent. Of course, two-thirds of those are the UMass-Lowells of the world. Is that great defense or crappy offense? Maryland is at 46-35-74%. The Gophers are going to have to shoot with them in order to compete out at College Park. On the plus side, the Gophers are winning the turnover battle 10-to-17, and the rebounding battle 41-34. The fact is that Maryland has turned the ball over 15 times per game, and that gives the Gophers hope. Meanwhile Maryland is winning the rebounding battle, too, by a resounding 45-32. The Gophers probably hope just to break even on the boards. So that’s my formula. Turn Maryland over a bit, and stay even with them shooting-wise and on the boards.
Oh, that, and hold transfer Kaylene Smikle in check. Remember Maryland was already a very good team, and now they’ve added Smikle from Rutgers, ironically. No wonder Rutgers was so bad last night. Smikle is Maryland’s leading scorer with 18 ppg and a scary slash line of 48-44 and 84 percent. That’s right, 44 percent on 3s. So that’s asking a lot. Turn ’em over, hold Smikle in check, break even shooting and on the boards. The fact is that Maryland is a 5 point pick with a 58 percent chance of winning. But, they, this Maryland we’re talking about. I’d say the betting line is showing the Gophers a fair amount of respect, and that’s not something that has happened much over these past few years.