University of Minnesota Athletics
Golden Gophers Host Illinois in New Year's Eve Clash
12/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-5, 0-1 Big Ten)
vs.
Illinois (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten)
LOCATION Williams Arena (14,625) - Minneapolis, Minn..
DATE / TIME: Sun., Dec. 31 - 2 p.m.
TELEVISION: None
RADIO / WEBCAST: KBEM-FM-88.5, KRDS 95.5 /
Gopher Radio Network / gophersports.com
Rita Maloney (play-by-play), Lynnette Sjoquist (analyst)
Golden Gopher Watch List — Dec. 31, 2006
• Minnesota Hosts Illinois on New Year’s Eve - Minnesota (8-5, 0-1 Big Ten) plays host to Illinois on Sunday, Dec. 31, in a 2 p.m. contest on New Year’s Eve. The Golden Gophers are looking for their first Big Ten victory after suffering a 58-56 loss to Iowa in the Conference opener on Thursday. Illinois (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten) won its first Big Ten game, 74-65 in overtime, at home versus Penn State.
• Gophers Lead Big Ten in Double-Doubles - Four Golden Gophers have posted double-doubles making Minnesota the Big Ten team with the most players who have recorded double-doubles this season.
• No More Time to Be Rookies -The Golden Gophers get 52 percent of their scoring punch from freshmen. Minnesota’s rookies have tallied 23 games in double-figures this season.
• Burst the Barn - Gopher head coach Pam Borton has vowed to donate $5,000 ($1,000 to five charities) if 14,000 fans attend the Gophers game versus border-rival Wisconsin on Jan. 7.
Gophers Host Illinois Looking For First Big Ten Win
Minnesota (8-5, 0-1 Big Ten) plays host to Illinois on Sunday, Dec. 31, in a 2 p.m. contest on New Year’s Eve. The Golden Gophers are looking for their first Big Ten victory after suffering a 58-56 loss to Iowa in the Conference opener on Thursday. Illinois (11-2, 1-0 Big Ten) won its first Big Ten game, 74-65 in overtime, at home versus Penn State.
Putting Away the Books for Now
The Golden Gophers have completed the first semester of the academic year and is now able to focus on only basketball for a little while. The Gophers will play five more games before returning to class for the second semester on Jan. 16.
Minnesota Tops Big Ten in Double-Doubles
Minnesota may have the youngest team in the Big Ten, but the Golden Gophers also have the most players to post a double-double among the Conference teams this season. Four Gophers have tallied the honored double. Korinne Campbell, Ashley Ellis-Milan and Leslie Knight have collected double-double of the points/rebounds variety. Emily Fox added a double-double performance in points and assists.
Crashing the Glass to Fuel the Offense
Minnesota tops the Big Ten in offensive rebounds, snagging 18.8 per game. The Gophers hauled in 23 offensive rebounds in their last outing versus Iowa, the seventh time in 2006-07 that Minnesota bettered 20 offensive boards. Ironically, all seven of those games were home contests.
All Those Offensive Rebounds Are Great, But...
Unfortunately, racking up a lot of offensive rebounds means shots aren’t finding the bottom of the net. The Gophers are shooting only 40.6 on the season and a dismal 32.4 percent in the last three games.
Let’s Not Even Go There
The Golden Gophers look to break out of a three-game losing streak. A victory would keep the Gophers from matching their longest losing streak under Pam Borton, four games late in 2005-06 season. Minnesota has not lost back-to-back home games in Williams Arena since moving back from the Sports Pavilion. The last time the Gophers suffered two home losses in a row was in the 2000-01 season. The 2000-01 season was also the last time Minnesota opened the Big Ten season with two losses.
Rookies Finding Success Early in Their Careers
The Gophers have enjoyed 23 double-digit scoring performances from their freshmen this season. Brittany McCoy tops all the Minnesota rookies with eight games scoring in double figures.
Double-Figure Rebounding Games Stacking Up
Led by Ashley Ellis-Milan’s six double-figure games with 10 or more rebounds, Minnesota already has a total of 11 double-digit rebounding performances this season. Korinne Campbell has contributed four double-figure rebounding, while Leslie Knight chipped in one. Last season, the Gophers had a player grab 10-plus rebounds in just eight contests.
Rookies in Title Only
Minnesota’s freshmen no longer have the luxury of playing like rookies as the Big Ten season gears up. So far in 2006-07, the freshmen Golden Gophers have more than held their own. The Gopher freshmen have logged 57 percent of the minutes played as well as tallied 52 percent of the points scored this season. Starting guard Brittany McCoy tops the rookies with averages of 8.9 points in 28.6 minutes per contest.
Gopher Offense Wants Its Mojo Back
The Gopher offense was averaging 73.0 points a game over the first 10 games of the season. With Minnesota’s three-game losing skid, the Gophers have also struggled to score averaging just 53.7 points per game.
Roysland Countdown to 1,000 Begins
Senior Kelly Roysland is 123 points (has 877 career points) from becoming the 17th player in Minnesota history to score 1,000 points in a career. With 15 regular-season games remaining, Roysland would need to score a conservative estimate of 8.2 points per game to etch her name on the honored list.
Becoming an Inside and Outside Threat
Katie Ohm has given the Gophers a solid all-around contribution off the bench. Ohm is averaging 7.2 points per game while shooting an impressive 65.7 field goal percentage from inside the arc. From long range, Ohm has struggled a bit, shooting 26.2 percent on 11-of-42 three-point field goal attempts. Ohm has, however, gone 4-for-8 from three-point range in the last two games.
Leadership From the Gophers’ Lone Senior
Kelly Roysland has topped the Gophers in scoring in seven games this season en route to her team-high 14.3 points per game average. Roysland scored a game-high 20 points in the win over Nebraska, her second 20-plus points outing of the season.
Campbell, Ellis-Milan Share Rebounding Lead
Freshmen Korinne Campbell and Ashley Ellis-Milan share the team lead in rebounds averaging 8.5 boards per game. Campbell actually has more offensive rebounds (56) than defensive rebounds (55).
Crashing the Boards to Score Points
Minnesota is averaging 18.8 offensive rebounds (leads the Big Ten) per game resulting in the Gophers scoring an amazing 23.9 percent of their points (213 second chance points). The Gophers have scored 20 or more second chance points in five games this season, topped by 25 versus Princeton.
Grabbing Extra Chances
Korinne Campbell has a knack for attacking the glass, giving the Gopher offense extra opportunities by averaging 4.3 offensive rebounds per game. Ashley Ellis-Milan and Leslie Knight assist as well, pulling down 3.4 and 2.4 offensive caroms a contest, respectively.
Scouting Illinois
Illinois has proven to be one of the surprise teams of the Big Ten this season coming in with an impressive 11-2 record. The Orange and Blue extended their winning streak to five games with a 74-65 overtime victory over Penn State to open the Big Ten season. Guard Laura Bjork played 44 of 45 minutes and led the team with 24 points. Bjork is averaging 15.3 points per game. Minnesota native Jenna Smith, who has started the last five games, has improved her numbers to 10.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
The Minnesota / Illinois Series
Illinois leads the series with Minnesota by a 26-20 margin. The Golden Gophers, however, won the only meeting last season, 64-49 in Champaign.
