Mired with numerous injuries and one key player suspended, the Minnesota Golden Gophers enter their final eight regular-season games with little to no margin for error.
Minnesota (14-9, 3-7) would likely have to win at least six of its last eight games and pull some upsets along the way — such as at Michigan, home versus Michigan State or at Purdue — to re-enter the postseason conversation.
On one hand, most of the Gophers’ remaining core was around last season when they rebounded from a 3-6 Big Ten start to win eight straight games and eventually claim a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Last year’s team endured a five-game losing streak early in the conference season, the final four losses coming by single digits.
These Gophers have struggled to remain competitive in second halves during their recent skid.
“We were losing close games,” said Pitino of last year’s group. “Totally different situation. There was no panic whatsoever last year. We were healthy, we were confident, we felt really, really good about where we were going, so I don’t know if I felt we were going to win eight in a row, but felt really good about our team.”
There may not be as much reason for optimism this time around. Without a starting caliber big man thanks to Eric Curry’s torn ACL and Reggie Lynch’s suspension, along with a trio of banged-up guards, the Gophers have routinely faded late in games.
Minnesota lost a six-point halftime lead at home against Northwestern in its most recent defeat before getting a week off.
“It’s a totally different team [than last year],” Pitino said. “I’m not giving excuses, but it’s a totally different situation. You can’t dismiss the injuries and so on. Totally different. My message to them is to take it one day at a time and just empty that tank to the best of your ability, and we’ll continue to do that.”
The Gophers have been tinkering with their small forward and center spots since losing Lynch indefinitely and Amir Coffey (shoulder) for five games. Dupree McBrayer (stress reaction) has also been largely unable to practice.
That’s made for a peculiar situation where the Gophers are often practicing with different personnel than they are using in games.
“Obviously we worked all offseason with the lineup we had,” said sophomore Michael Hurt. “You don’t plan for injuries or other instances, so it’s difficult obviously to do it midseason.”
Last year, the Gophers made just one lineup change during the regular conference season, swapping McBrayer for Akeem Springs in the starting lineup and bringing McBrayer off the bench.
They’ve had no such continuity this year with five different lineups in conference play.
“With next man up, you can’t really think about what’s going on,” said junior Davonte Fitzgerald. “You’re just thinking about what you can help to win, help us be more productive.”
Curry update
Pitino appeared on WCCO Radio on Sunday and remarked that Curry, last year’s backup center, was progressing so well in his knee rehab that he might be able to play this season if it didn’t cost him his redshirt and burn a year of eligibility.
The coach backtracked a bit from those comments on Monday, saying he’s received no official word on Curry’s status.
“That’s probably me as a civilian acting like I’m a doctor, which is probably pretty stupid,” said Pitino. “I think I said that more than anything just watching him shoot around and do some things, but nobody’s even remotely thinking of [playing him]. We leave that stuff up to the doctors and trainers.”
Curry tore his ACL in late August, which dealt a blow to the Gophers’ depth. As a freshman, he averaged over five points and five rebounds per game. With Lynch suspended, Curry would have been a solid option to take over in his absence. Instead, those minutes have mostly gone to Bakary Konate, who has the lowest points-per-40-minutes average on the team and the highest number of fouls per 40 minutes.
“Let’s get him back next year healthy,” said Pitino of Curry, “because I’d said from day one when he went down that was a bigger deal than everybody probably imagines, and obviously with what’s happened now, it’s proven to be a very big deal.”
