Andre Hollins update: Gophers coach Richard Pitino confirmed to the Star Tribune on Thursday that Hollins' X-rays on a left ankle injury came back negative. The junior guard has been diagnosed with a "severe ankle sprain," which was confirmed by an MRI. However, Pitino said the Hollins will be evaluated daily, and has not ruled out that he will play on Sunday at Nebraska. Hollins was injured 14 seconds into Wednesday's game vs. Wisconsin, when he landed on a defender's foot after coming down from a jump shot. The guard was fitted for a boot and getting around on crutches in the locker room after the game.
At the beginning of the season, if we had been told that Andre Hollins would go down with an ankle injury just a few seconds into a game against No. 9 Wisconsin, we all probably would have chalked that one up to a loss.
What could they do? Their best player and offensive leader was down.
But the Gophers are so much more than that now.
At this point in the season, Hollins might not even be the most damaging loss in a game like this. That's not to say that the junior guard isn't a major part of what Minnesota does -- he was leading the team with 16.2 points a game coming into last night, after all -- but simply that the Gophers no longer rely on him to run the point (imagine if DeAndre Mathieu went down? Yikes.) and that they've found so much offensive balance around him in the backcourt.
That kind of variance instills a new confidence in both the players and those watching them.
When a guy like Hollins hits the floor, they can look around at each other and think "Hey, we're OK."
The Gophers have Austin Hollins, who when he's being aggressive -- and he certainly was at the end of the game -- can be a major spark. They have DeAndre Mathieu, who might be one of the most talented little guys in the game when it comes to scoring on the drive. They have Malik Smith, who looked as sharp as he has all year against Wisconsin, playing very complete offense -- taking the ball to the hoop as well as creating opportunities for his teammates. We've seen him grow a ton, already, since the beginning of the season -- a statement that I guess holds for all of those guys.
