Minnesota has chance to turn around nightmare start in Big Ten
Minnesota coach Richard Pitino inserted three new starters in his lineup Tuesday night in hopes of sparking his team to its first Big Ten victory of the season against Iowa. It didn't have the desired effect.
In fact, it's fair to wonder why Pitino chose to shake up his starters at all considering his team's problem seems to be finishing close games.
Center Elliott Eliason, in for Mo Walker, and Charles Buggs, in for Carlos Morris, combined for zero points and three rebounds and the Gophers fell behind by 17 points. They fought their way back
Nate Mason was the one new starter who panned out for Pitino. He scored 17 points and combined with Morris, who had 20 points off the bench, to lead a rally. The Gophers took a lead in the final minutes but dropped to 0-5 in conference play when Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff hit a jumper with 3 seconds left to give the Hawkeyes a 77-75 victory.
It's not like the Gophers have been completely outclassed. Four of the five losses have come by five points or less and Ohio State beat them in overtime by two. It's that finishing thing we mentioned. Being one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the Big Ten isn't helping.
This is a nightmare for a Minnesota team that had hoped to build on winning the NIT to finish last season strong. The Gophers (11-7, 0-5) are lfirting with getting into a desperate situation. They might already be there. On the positive side, they have some winnable games coming up in the second half of this month and could easily get back on track if they don't let this losing streak overwhelm them.
With games against Rutgers, two against Nebraska, Illinois and Penn State upcoming, there is hope for a turnaround, if this team can figure out how to close out some of these games.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
