Gophers coach Richard Pitino knows the threat of this time of year -- when the Gophers play a single game in a 17-day stretch.
So do his players.
"Games like this can be pretty difficult because there is nothing else to do," center Mo Walker said. "It's Christmas break, people are interested in seeing their families, going home and whatnot, so there still is a distraction, in a sense, because there is nothing else going on, so people are looking towards the future and what's about to happen."
Which is why the Minnesota coach was so pleased to see the team have some of their best practices of the season in the last week.
On Sunday, the Gophers broke up the 10-day gameless stretch (which ends tomorrow, when Minnesota faces Nebraska- Omaha at the Barn) with a Maroon vs. Gold scrimmage. Pitino, who brought in referees for the event, was impressed with what he saw.
"We knew we had a long week ahead of us," Pitino said. "And it was really good. The guys competed. Now, certainly, we've got a lot to work on -- I just love the competitive nature of the guys during the scrimmage ... the fact that there was no fans in the stands, it wasn't on TV, it wasn't online, and they were competing as it was a Big Ten team. That's good to see."
Then yesterday, Pitino said, the Gophers had the "best practice we've had in a while" after a similarly strong outing the day before. On Wednesday, the team was so into it, that the coach actually had to "dial back" the intensity, he said, which is something he'd like to be forced to do a little more often.
"That's something we need to get better at as a team, just kind of that ferociousness," he said. "We're really nice, and we need to get meaner, and that was a good step in the right direction ... They were focused, they were working hard, trying to get better defensively, really competing."
