Looking at the stat sheet, you might say, hey, here’s a game the Gopher women could have won. I mean, they went into the game 1-12 against Maryland over the past 25 years, so a chance to beat the mighty Terrapins is a chance to be savored. And the Gophers lost by just 8 (vs. an average margin over those previous 13 games of 17 ppg), and they shot just 7-of-28 3s (25%). Maryland was a more efficient 8-of-18 (44%). If we had made 44% of our 3s, that would have been 12-of-28, or 15 extra points, and the Gophers would have won 79-72.
But it’s never quite that simple. The fact is that, yes, the Gophers had a tough night shooting the ball. 7-of-28 3s and 17-of-37 2s (46%) while Maryland shot that 44% and also 46% on 2s. But the fact is also that as much as the Gophers had a tough night shooting the ball, Maryland had a terrific night on defense.
Maryland was quicker than the Gophers, period. They used their quickness to get a bunch of layups, especially in the 2nd quarter, when they erased a 21-18 Gopher lead after one quarter to go ahead by 7 at the half at 43-36. It was a lead that they never surrendered, though the Gophers tied it up at 45-45 at 6:54 of the 3rd. But more than that, they used their quickness to challenge the Gopher shooters on the perimeter. That was something that the Gophers were unable to do, especially in the 1st quarter when Maryland made 5-of-10 3s. Mara Braun made 5-of-12 3s on the night. Everybody else made 2-of-16.
And then there were those turnovers. The Gophers had 20, Maryland 11, and Maryland had the edge on points off turnovers 17-13. Not much of a difference, but not helpful when you’re shooting 7-of-28 from 3. The turnovers were of 3 kinds. 1) Maryland’s half-court trapping defense created some of them over the course of the 1st half, but the Gophers handled it better as the game wore on. 2) But there were also careless passes of the kind that Maryland just didn’t make. And 3) a few times the Gophers lacked the awareness of an emerging double team and walked right into it. The worst came at the end of the 3rd period. The Gophers were down 56-50 but got the ball off the defensive glass with 16 seconds remaining and a chance to get within 3 or 4. Well, the never got off a shot as Amaya Battle threw a long bomb down the court, out of the reach of her teammates and over the baseline. The turnover was bad enough but what was worse that there was still :09 on the clock. Maryland of course came back not only to score but to get a layup at :03 to go ahead 58-50. The Gophers never got closer than 5.
So 3-point shooting and turnovers were the Gophers’ demise. But there were bright spots, such as the offensive boards. The Gophers, and specifically Sophie Hart, crashed the O-boards hard and got 18 offensive boards to Maryland’s 6. Unfortunately our offensive efficiency was such that we only translated that into a 10-6 edge in 2nd chance points.
Points in the paint were telling, too. 34 for Maryland, just 22 for the Gophers. Maryland’s points in the paint were the result of moving the ball, moving without the ball, cutting to the basket, and eventually finding somebody open underneath for an uncontested layup. The Gopher offense appeared, by way of contrast, to include way too much dribbling in place and standing around. Too many of those many shots the Gophers missed came with somewhere in the range of zero to one passes having been thrown. No wonder the Maryland defenders were able to contest those shots.
Oops, that last paragraph was going to feature the Gophers highlights and yet it ended up identifying another weakness. Well, that’s how it goes when the other team is quicker than you are. It ends up affecting a lot of things. And, yet, the Gophers stayed within 8 against a team that they’ve beaten just once against 13 losses over 25 years. Since joining the Big 10 10 years ago, Maryland has never failed to win at least 23 games each year. Their 10-4 record this year represents the lowest W-L percentage ever in those 10 years and it’s true that they took one bad loss at Nebraska last week. But, otherwise they’ve lost only at South Carolina, at Connecticut and to #23 rated Washington State. The likelihood is that they’re going to get at least 23 wins again this year. So there’s no shame in losing to Maryland 72-64. But, gosh, this felt like a game the Gophers coulda won. All they had to do was shoot their 3s a little better. Well, that and get a little bit quicker.
So now, well, things never get easier in the Big 10. 4 of the next 6 games are on the road including at Michigan and at Indiana. In between are home games against Nebraska, who just beat Maryland, and Michigan State, who took Iowa down to the final possession in Iowa City after Iowa pummeled the Gophers 94-71. A breakeven 3-3 record over those next 6 games would be a terrific achievement. If you’re gonna win in the Big 10, you better beat Nebraska at home and you better win at Wisconsin. Go Gophers!
