University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Travel To Michigan on Sunday
2/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Game 25
Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-7, 9-4)
vs.
Michigan Wolverines (10-14, 3-10)
LOCATION Crisler Arena / Ann Arbor, Mich.
DATE / TIME: Sunday, Feb.. 15 / 5 p.m. ET (4 p.m. CT)
TELEVISION: Big Ten Network
Tom Werme (Play-by-play), Vera Jones (Color Analyst)
RADIO / AUDIO WEBCAST: WCCO 830 AM / Gopher Radio Network / gophersports.com
Corbu Stathes (Play-by-play), Lynnette Sjoquist (Color Analyst)
Golden Gopher Watch List Feb. 15, 2009
Golden Gophers Travel to Michigan - Minnesota travels to Michigan on Sunday, Feb. 15, looking to rebound from Thursday’s tough loss to Purdue. Tip off is set for 5 p.m. ET (4 p.m. CT). The game will be televised live by the Big Ten Network.
Note Time Changes For Upcoming Games - Minnesota’s Feb. 26 game at Michigan State will be a 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) tip, while the home game on March 1 versus Illinois will begin at 1 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on bigtennetwork.com.
Big Ten Race Heats Up - The Gophers are among four teams at the top of the Big Ten standings separated by only one game in the loss column. Michigan State leads the pack at 11-3. Minnesota stands at 9-4.
Triple Digits Times Two - The starting Gopher backcourt of Emily Fox and Brittany McCoy are both closing in on their 100th assists of the season.
Gophers Look to Rebound Versus Michigan
Minnesota looks to return to its winning ways as the Golden Gophers travel to Michigan to face the Wolverines on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 5 p.m. ET (4 p.m. CT). The Gophers are coming off a disappointing 55-40 loss to Purdue on Thursday and own a record of 17-7 overall and 9-4 in Big Ten play. Michigan sports a record of 10-14 and 3-10 in league action.
Minnesota / Michigan Game Televised Live on BTN
The Gophers’ game versus Michigan will be televised live by the Big Ten Network with Tom Werme and Vera Jones calling the action.
Entering the Pink Zone on Sunday
Michigan will be celebrating their “Pink Zone” game on Sunday when the Gopher come to town. Both teams will be including pink highlights, whether it be uniforms or shoe laces, to show support for the WBCA’s Pink Zone initiative.
The WBCA Pink Zone initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.
The WBCA began the WBCA Pink Zone, formerly known as "Think Pink", in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities. In 2007, more than 120 schools unified for this effort and helped make the inaugural year a success. In 2008, over 1,200 teams and organizations participated, reaching over 830,000 fans and raising over $930,000 for breast cancer awareness and research.
Thought the WBCA has designated from Feb. 13-22 as the Pink Zone, schools may choose to observe the Zone at other times during the season. Minnesota celebrated their home Pink Zone game in November, when the late Kay Yow brought her North Carolina State team to Williams Arena for the Subway Classic.
Time Changes For Games In Last Week
The Big Ten announced the starting times and media coverage for the games in the final week of the Conference season. Minnesota’s Feb. 26 game at Michigan State will be a 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) tip, while the home game on March 1 versus Illinois will begin at 1 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on bigtennetwork.com.
Log Jam at the Top
The Golden Gophers are part of a four-team log jam at the top of the Big Ten standings. Michigan State leads the way at 11-3, just a half game and tied in the loss column with 10-3 Ohio State. Purdue moved up to 10-4 after defeating Minnesota, now at 9-4. Iowa is only one game behind the Gophers with a 8-5 mark. Following is the remaining games for the top five teams in the Big Ten.
Michigan State (11-3)
Feb. 19 vs. Michigan
Feb. 22 at Wisconsin
Feb. 26 vs. Minnesota
March 1 vs. Purdue
Ohio State (10-3)
Feb. 15 vs. Northwestern
Feb. 19 at Minnesota
Feb. 22 at Indiana
Feb. 26 vs. Wisconsin
March 1 vs. Penn State
Purdue (10-4)
Feb. 15 vs. Illinois
Feb. 19 at Penn State
Feb. 26 vs. Michigan
March 1 at Michigan State
Minnesota (9-4)
Feb. 15 vs.Michigan
Feb. 19 vs. Ohio State
Feb. 23 at Northwestern
Feb. 26 at Michigan State
March 1 vs. Illinois
Iowa (8-5)
Feb. 15 at Penn State
Feb. 19 vs. Wisconsin
Feb. 22 at Michigan
Feb. 26 vs. Illinois
March 1 at Northwestern
A Contrast of Emotions
The Michigan games have come at times in the Minnesota schedule where interestingly enough we will find the Gophers at a contrast of emotions. Earlier this season, Michigan visited Williams Arena with the Gophers fresh off a huge win at Ohio State. Coaches are always worried about a big letdown after such an emotional win, but the Gophers held court to capture a 52-46 victory. This time around, Minnesota travels to Ann Arbor after a hard-fought emotional loss at home to Purdue. The Wolverines can expect a Gopher team hungry to get back on the court looking to rebound from that disappointing loss to the Boilermakers.
Gophers Are Winning The Close Ones
Good teams find a way to make plays in the closing minutes to win games. Minnesota has made the big plays in the last four minutes and its 9-3 Big Ten record certainly reflects it. The Gophers are 6-0 in Big Ten games decided by six or less points.
Sometimes Defense Isn’t Enough
If one knew ahead of time that Purdue would score 56 in one meeting with the Gophers and 55 in the second you might think Minnesota was in great shape to one those games. Unfortunately while the Boilermakers could manage just an average of 55.5 points a game, the Gophers would only average 41.5 points a game versus the Boilers.
Protecting Your Home Court
To maintain a position among the upper echelon of the Big Ten standings, defending one’s home court is of utmost importance. Minnesota was the last to fall from the undefeated ranks on their home court this season in Big Ten play, winning their first six before falling to Purdue (2/12). The top five teams in the Big Ten standings (Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Minnesota and Iowa) are a combined 27-6 (81.8 percent) in home Big Ten games in 2008-09.
Fox Hits 100th Three-Pointer, Nears Scoring Top 10
Emily Fox hit a three-pointer in the Iowa game (2/8) to become the eighth player in Minnesota history to score 100 three-point field goals. Fox is also on the cusp of joining the top 10 of the Gophers’ all-time leading scorers list. She enters Sunday’s game with 1,335 career points and needs just two more to move past Ellen Kramer (1987-91 - 1,336 career points) and into the No. 10 spot.
McCoy Nearing Third Season With 100+ Assists
Brittany McCoy is closing in on adding the 2008-09 as her third consecutive season with 100 or more assists. McCoy has 97 assists averaging 4.0 dishes a game, which ranks third in the Big Ten. The Gopher junior is already the only player in school history to dish out 100 or more assists as both a freshman and sophomore.
McCoy’s Not the Only One as Fox Near Century Mark
Emily Fox has 98 assists on the season as she joins McCoy on the march toward 100-plus assist seasons. Fox and McCoy share the honor of being one of just two sets of teammates (Janel McCarville/April Calhoun, 2004-05) to tally triple assist totals in the same season. The Fox and McCoy tandem has already done this twice.
Kiara Earning Key Minutes
Gopher rookie Kiara Buford hasn’t started a game yet in her collegiate career. She has, however, finished a lot of them, earning key minutes on the court in the waning moments of close games. Since playing a season-high 32 minutes in the Minnesota win at Ohio State, Buford has averaged 26.7 minutes a game in the last eight contests. In the three Gopher wins (Michigan State, Penn State and Iowa) last week, Buford has averaged 27.7 minutes, 11.7 points and 2.3 three-pointers.
Defense, Defense and More Defense
The Big Ten is known as a physical league. Starting the Conference season where experienced coaches know so much about their Big Ten opponents, the statistics are revealing just how important team defense is this season. Amazingly over half the teams - seven (Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin) - are averaging less than 60 points a game this season in Conference play. Case in point -- three teams: Illinois (60), Wisconsin (58) and Purdue (55) won games scoring 60 or less points on Thursday.
Ellis-Milan Doubling-Up Effort in Big Ten Play
Ashley Ellis-Milan has been the Golden Gophers’ most consistent performer in Big Ten action this season. She leads the team averaging 13.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per Conference game. Ellis-Milan has recorded double-doubles in three Big Ten games this season. Overall, Ellis-Milan has posted 19 double-doubles in her Golden Gopher career.
Voigt, Buford Vie For Big Ten All-Freshmen Honors
Minnesota has two freshmen in Jackie Voigt and Kiara Buford who have played their way into consideration for Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Voigt is one of two freshmen (Ohio State’s Samantha Prahaulis the other) who have started every game this season. Voigt is the Big Ten’s leading rookie rebounder pulling down 5.9 rebounds a game. She also contributes 6.3 points a game in an average of 29.3 minutes per contest.
Buford has emerged as an important player off the bench for the Gophers and already should be counted among the best sixth players in the Big Ten. Buford is among the leading freshman scorers in Conference play, as well as one the top non-starting scorers, contributing 7.6 points a game. Overall, Buford is playing an average of 21.2 minutes a game, scoring 7.2 points an outing.
Ohm Closing In On Single-Season Record
Katie Ohm has been sensational from behind the arc this season. Her 59 three-point field goals in on record pace to set Minnesota’s single-season record of 73 (Lindsay Lieser, 2001-02; and Shannon Schonrock, 2004-05). Ohm has netted three or more three-pointers in 11 games this season. When Ohm hits three or more triples, the Gophers are 9-2. When she hits four or more, Minnesota is 4-0.
Experience Paying Dividends...
Two years ago, Minnesota put the second youngest squad in the nation on the court. In 2008-09, the Gophers have a trio of three-year starters in Emily Fox, Brittany McCoy and Ashley Ellis-Milan. McCoy has started every one of her 89 career games at Minnesota. To date, the Gophers’ starting lineup, which does include a true freshman in Jackie Voigt, boasts 326 games of starting experience.
...Especially in the Backcourt
Minnesota’s starting backcourt of Emily Fox and Brittany McCoy are ranked first and second in the Big Ten statistics in a very important, but under-appreciated stat of assist-to-turnover ratio. Fox has 96 assists to 61 turnovers for a 1.57 assist/turnover ratio. McCoy checks in with a ratio of 1.45 with 97 assists and 67 turnovers. The duo enjoyed their best collective outing versus Boston College, combining for 13 assists without a single turnover.
Scouting Michigan
Michigan owns a 10-14 record (3-10 Big Ten) heading into Sunday’s game with the Gophers. The Wolverines have a bye in Thursday’s round of Big Ten action coming off a 64-56 loss to Penn State on Monday. Overall, the Wolverines have struggled of late with only a win over Wisconsin in their last nine games. The Wolverines are led by senior guard Jessica Minnfield, who is averaging 10l.2 points per game. All five starters average between 7.4 and 10.2 points per game.
The Minnesota / Michigan Series
Minnesota leads the series with Michigan by a 28-22 margin. The Gophers have won the last seven, and 11 of the last 12, games versus the Wolverines.
