There were times Wednesday when open shots, point-blank, didn’t fall. There were times when the best decision might have been to pass out of a swarming defense rather than try to force a shot. Sometimes better shots will come when the Gophers women’s basketball team gets a stop at one end and can force the action at the other.
But, with one more home game — against Wisconsin on Sunday at Williams Arena — before a daunting two-game road trip to Los Angeles against fourth-ranked USC and No. 1 UCLA, Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit is looking for her team to be more efficient around the rim.
“In the first quarter [of Wednesday’s five-point home loss to Michigan] we scored efficiently at the rim,” Plitzuweit said Friday. “The second through the fourth quarter we didn’t. And, probably, the third quarter is when we got to the rim the most. We had 10 short shots, which is what we call them, around the rim. And we were 2-for-10.”
Through eight Big Ten games the 23rd-ranked Gophers are 17-3 overall, 5-3 in the Big Ten. The loss to No. 24 Michigan — the team’s first home loss — was particularly disappointing. But, for the most part, the Gophers have beaten teams below them in the standings while going 0-3 against teams ranked in the AP poll (Nebraska at the time, Maryland and Michigan).
There are always other things to work on, too. The Gophers defense being able to get stops is so important. In five conference victories, Gophers' opponents have shot 38.3% overall and 30.9% on three-pointers. In three losses those numbers are 50.5% and 44.6%, though the quality of the competition has to be weighed.
The Gophers have also struggled from behind the arc in conference play, ranking 16th in three-point shooting at 31.0%.
But that makes being more efficient inside that much more important. And it won’t get any easier against the Badgers, who are built around post Serah Williams, who is second in the conference in blocks.
The Gophers broke a four-game losing streak to the Badgers — the only conference opponent the Gophers will face twice this season — with a 59-50 victory Dec. 31 in Madison. In that game the Gophers hit nine of 17 shots and four of eight threes while jumping out to a 23-4 lead after a quarter, but shot just 35% the rest of the way while being outscored by 10 points. For the Badgers (10-9 overall, 1-7 Big Ten) it is the only conference loss by fewer than 10 points.
