DePaul 73 MN Gopher Men 68

The Gophers got out-quicker and out-shot by DePaul at Williams Arena Saturday. It felt like a 15 point game but, in the end, the Gophers stayed within 73-68 and had a chance to tie in the closing seconds. So what happened?

Well, DePaul shot 8-of-16 3s and the Gophers made 7-of-29. From 2 point range the Gophers made 14-of-32 or 44 percent. Free throws? 19-for-30, 63 percent. The Gophers shot the ball like crap. That's what happened. It especially pains me to note that Gabe Kalscheur made 2-of-9 3s.

And, DePaul was just quicker. That manifest itself in 3 main ways. 1) DePaul was very quick to double down on Daniel Oturu. Whenever the Gophers passed the ball into Oturu, a second DePaul defender arrived there as soon as the ball did. He had nowhere to go.

2) Each team had 11 turnovers. DePaul turned them into 17 points. Almost every Gopher turnover was showtime and a home run for DePaul.

And 3) on the game's final play, the Gophers had 10.7 seconds and the ball, down 3, from the far baseline. Point guard Marcus Carr brought the ball up court with not too much of a sense of urgency, so by the time they swung the ball over to the far side to Kalscheur, he could only shoot the ball. There was no time for a pass and if he missed the shot there was no time for an O-board. The play unfolded way too slowly. But, then, returning to the subject of DePaul's quickness, they defended the 3 point line really hard and when Kalscheur got the ball, there were 2 Blue Demons on him and in fact his shot got blocked and fell ten feet short of the rim.

So the Gophers shot like crap, while DePaul shot pretty well and used its quickness to its advantage in certain situations. And did I mention that DePaul is now 8-0, and yet the Gophers lost by 5. So, on the plus side for the Gophers, there's Daniel Oturu. As I said, DePaul defended him really, really well and so he only scored 18 points to go along with 19 rebounds and 4 blocks. Without almost ever catching the ball on his spot. Oturu is becoming one of the top posts in the Big 10.

Nevertheless, if Oturu averages 18 points and 19 boards in the Big 10, for example, the Gophers are going to have to drain a lot of 3s to compete and right now they don't look like a team that can do that.