Minnesota Gopher men 85 Cleveland State 50

The new-look Gophers continued to piece together a team that can compete, if not contend, in the Big 10. A scrimmage at Iowa State, an exhibition against Southwest State and, now, an official win over Cleveland State. What does it add up to? The fact is that nobody knows. It may or may not be good news that we should begin to get some real answers this Saturday night, when the Gophers take on Oklahoma at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.

Still, it's true that so far the Gophers have done what needed to be done. Tonight they shot 54% from the field, including 45% from 3-point range and 64% on 2-pointers, to dispatch an undermanned, overmatched opponent. Gophers Marcus Carr, Gabe Kalscheur and Payton Willis got open looks from the perimeter and made just enough of them to feel good about it. 6-10 sophomore post Daniel Oturu, meanwhile, got the shots he wanted in the lane--mostly 6-8-10 foot jumpers--and made 7-of-8.  He added 10 rebounds and 5 blocked shots and was the Gophers' most effective player, though he did have too many turnovers with 6.

The official MVP was Carr, however. He scored 18 points on 5-of-13 shooting, and added 7 boards and 8 assists. He was +40. Willis scored 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and added 4 boards and 8 assists. He was +43. Willis had no turnovers, Carr had 2. Overall, I thought Willis was a little better, though you could just as well call them the Minnesota Twins. They play a lot alike though Carr has the ball in his hands a lot more. I assume that's by design. But, Willis shot it better tonight.

Kalscheur didn't have a great night, making 3-of-10 shots for 9 points. Alihan Demir was much improved at the 4-spot with 10 points but just 2 boards. Still, he is going to be one of the smaller 4s in the Big 10. Off the bench, nobody was great though Jarvis Omersa scored 8 points on 4-of-5 shooting with 4 boards but he, too, is going to be among the smaller 4s in the conference.

Still, overall, the Gophers did what they had to do, dominating a weak opponent, making some 3s and getting the ball to Oturu almost as much as they should. The worst of it was 17 turnovers against a non-existent defense. Still, the starting 5 might almost be a .500 unit in the Big 10, but right now the bench is not competitive at that level. Developing that bench is going to be critical.