Minnesota advances to play #6 seed Michigan Thursday night
The Minnesota Golden Gophers were in this position last year. An opening round game in the Big Ten Tournament at the Target Center, just minutes from their home campus and in front of a largely partisan Minnesota crowd. They could not get it done losing to Penn State and ending the coaching tenure of Lindsay Whalen. This year, new coach, new system but the Gophers had to overcome the loss of two of their five starters for the final month of the regular season and limped to the finish losing ten of their final eleven games. It would not have been unexpected if the Gophers went out with a whimper and saw their season end. Amaya Battle had other ideas. The Gopher sophomore went off scoring a career high 32 points and put the Gophers on her back leading them to a 77-69 win over Rutgers and to play at least one more game this season.
The Gophers and Scarlet Knights got off to a back and forth affair. Minnesota hit early on mid range jumpers while Rutgers was 3-4 from beyond the arc early in the game and was beating the Gophers especially in transition. Minnesota led 14-13 at the first quarter TV timeout, but then would go on a tear. Battle would take over the end of the quarter for the Gophers hitting a three pointer with five seconds left in the opening stanza to bring her runing total up to 14 and to give Minnesota a 24-14 lead after one quarter of play. Minnesota ended the first quarter on a 13-1 run and forced nine Rutgers turnovers.
The second quarter started much like the first in a back and forth fortune. Rutgers would begin to claw back with their success from beyond the arc. While the Gophers shooting went cold in the second quarter, Rutgers made their threes and took what was a ten point lead after the first quarter and cut it to just three midway through the second quarter at 30-27 Minnesota. The Gophers struggled even more with Battle taking a breather and looked lost on offense. Rutgers continued to chip away and with 2:21 left in the quarter the Scarlet Knights went back ahead 31- 30. Battle came back in after a Gopher timeout and immediately the team looked calm again on offense. She fed gorgeous back to back assists to Ayianna Johnson for layups and Minnesota jumped ahead again by 3 at 34-31. After the Scarlet Knights again got within one point, Grace Grocholski took over in the last minute and a half hitting her first three of the game and then a pair of free throws with five seconds left to put Minnesota up 39-35 at the halftime break. Battle finished the half with 17 points while Destiny Adams led the way for Rutgers with 13. Minnesota’s shooting woes returned in the second quarter as they went just 4-13. They remained in the lead by forcing 15 Rutgers turnovers in the first half and that led directly to 15 points.
The teams began the third quarter trading baskets, but Minnesota continued to struggle on offense. Grocholoski scored the first three points of the half on a layup and one, but then missed back to back three pointers, and after a Johnson turnover in the paint, Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit called time out and was NOT happy with her team even though they still led by 3 at 42-39.
Minnesota would get a spark from freshman Nia Holloway. She scored back to back baskets one off a nice feed from Battle and grabbed a big defensive rebound that let to a Gopher fast break where Mallory Heyer was fouled. She would make just one of two free throws and put the Gophers up 47-41 at the 3rd quarter TV timeout.
But the lead would not last. Minnesota went ice cold again from the field including going 0-6 from three in the quarter, and more worrisome just 7-11 from the free throw line. Heyer would make just three of her six free throws in the quarter including the one that would put the Gophers ahead by one 56-55 after three quarters. Rutgers calmed down and only had one turnover in the quarter and it made a significant difference.
Emotions were running high into the final ten minutes. It was not helped by the referees letting both teams play, and it got quite physical, if not chippy. Adams for Rutgers was tripped by Holloway under the Gopher basket as their legs collided and then the pair fought for a rebound under the Rutgers bucket the next time down the floor and had to be separated after words were exchanged and a small shove or two were traded.
That seemed to excite the Gophers a bit as Battle would once again regain the momentum back to Minnesota’s side. She hit one free throw and missed another after she was fouled on a drive but hit a short jumper the next time down the court. Next possession Heyer finally hit a three from the corner and put the Gophers up 66-61 at the fourth quarter TV timeout with 4:33 to play.
The rest of the game…yep more Battle. A pair of free throws and a jumper from the sophomore extended the Gopher lead back to eight at 70-62. Adams tried to do the same for Rutgers on the other end but couldn’t match. She hit just one of two free throws and missed a layup that could have cut the lead to four. A Janay Sanders layup put Minnesota back up eight with to minutes to play, but she would miss the additional free throw and then foul out on a stupid reach in on the next possession as Rutgers again cut the lead back to six. Rutgers clawed back to within three on the next possession after Holloway stepped out of bounds on a drive and then Adams took it right at her on the other end for a layup and one that made it 72-69 with 1:18 to play.
Minnesota struggled to break the press but did get across half court and Battle was fouled by Rutgers Kassondra Brown who would foul out. Battle made one of two free throws and the Gophers clung to a four point lead at 73-69.
Minnesota’s defense struggled at times, but the next possession was a textbook example of perfect defense. Adams got the ball in the post guarded by Holloway but Maggie Cinzano came over on a perfect double team to force her to make a pass. She found Erica Lafayette beyond the arc where she had hit four threes already but a great closeout from Heyer forced a poor shot as the shot clock ran out and Lafayette airballed with 30.9 seconds remaining.
Battle would make a pair of free throws after getting founded on the inbounds and then the Scarlet Knights would miss their last good shot at keeping the game alive when Lisa’s Thompson’s three pointer went off the rim and right to Grocholski. She made both free throws after being fouled and the Gophers would hang on for a 77-69 win.
Battle would lead all scorers with 32 points. She added seven assists and five rebounds to help Minnesota win. Postgame Battle talked about her mindset. “I think it really helped that I was not overthinking. I came into the game with a blank mind and just made plays.” She was asked when she knew she was locked in, and said “Probably when I hit that three pointer off the screen (at the end of the first quarter). I came back to the bench and Mara (Braun) was like…you never do that.”
Coach Plitzuweit said that the difference came down to the Gophers effort on defense. “We were able to force turnovers, second half we didn’t really turn them over but we were able to defend better. We played with a lot of energy and intensity. Nia and Amaya played the best I have ever seen them play today” “After our last couple of games we needed a reset, today it was a clean slate, we had to wipe it.” She went on to say that she showed her team a video of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh—showing them that kind of energy that she needed her team to play with.
She also gave a ton of credit to Destiny Adams and said she played an amazing game. She finished with 31 points and 24 rebounds for Rutgers, but only went 7-12 from the free throw line. But the Gophers got the stops on her when it mattered most, and Minnesota will move on to Thursday’s second round.
Minnesota will meet #6 seed Michigan who the Gophers defeated 82-66 in Ann Arbor back in January with a full roster. It will be a much different game Thursday without Braun and Sophie Hart. Minnesota went 15-28 from three in that game, and it may take that kind of shooting effort to see them have a chance to advance yet again.
Thursday’s game will tip off 25 minutes after the end of the Wisconsin vs Penn State game that begins at 5:30 and will air on Big Ten Network.