King, Morris shine in Gophers scrimmage

A day earlier, the newcomers had effectively squashed their mentors in three straight scrimmages behind closed doors.

So when the doors opened to the public, University of Minnesota men's basketball head coach Richard Pitino made sure he repeated that fact plenty of times to his veterans, who mostly made up Team Maroon – along with some help from freshman Jordan Murphy, who filled in for two injured centers – in the team's open intrasquad game on Sunday night.

Message received. Maroon routed Gold – a team of all freshmen and transfers, 78-51.

"Maroon needed to kick [Gold's] butt," Pitino said. "I think they were kind of waiting for today."

Although it's difficult to make many evaluations from four eight-minute quarters in which every player knows the playbook of his opponent, the apparent improvement of seniors Joey King and Carlos Morris was promising. Both played with a consistency and poise that was at times elusive a year ago.

King – who Pitino said has become the team's best shooter "by far'' – hit three of seven attempts from beyond the arc and finished with 17 points and nine boards, a rebounding total he's only reached once in the last two years.

Morris, meanwhile, was hitting clean shots off of passes and making good decisions when he had the ball, a rarity a year ago for a player who developed the reputation of a ball hog who never saw a shot he didn't like. He finished with 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting, with eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and just one turnover.

It was enough to raise some optimistic eyebrows after the game, with fans noting that they were starting to look like the leaders Minnesota will need this year with so much youth.

Hopefully for the Gophers, Pitino doesn't have to bait his veterans each time, as he did before Sunday's scrimmage.

"I was intentionally doing it," he said. "Gold was beating them [on Saturday] and it just didn't seem to bother them that much. So I was intentionally trying to stir it up to them."

The overwhelming response he got?

"Don't pick against us."

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Sophomore centers Bakary Konate and Gaston Diedhiou both sat out of Sunday's scrimmage with foot injuries. Konate has a stress fracture in his left foot and Diedhiou is dealing with what Pitino called "the early stages of a stress fracture, but it's not." Diedhious is expected to return within a week while Konate could get back on the court about a week before the start of games.

Jarvis Johnson, who was not cleared to play at Minnesota due to a heart condition was active and vocal on the bench in a black Gophers sweatsuit.

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Davonte Fitzgerald looked noticeably hobbled in moments throughout the scrimmage, limping at times. Pitino said he had seen similar discomfort in practice and believes Fitzgerald, who has had two ACL injuries in the past, is getting over a tweaked ankle.

"Davonte seemed hurt," he said. "He wasn't moving well. He looked like he was injured so we'll have to look into that. Hopefully nothing serious, we don't need any more injuries."

Fitzgerald at media day said he was feeling good physically and felt no pain in either of his knees. "It's behind me," he said.

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My story on University of Minnesota fan reactions to the passing of Timberwolves head coach and President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders, a former Gopher.