In the final stretch of the season, it's a new struggle that is cropping up.
Early in the season, we thought ball handling might be an issue. Minnesota averaged 14.4 turnovers in its first seven games, and totaled 20 in two contests in that span. But that worry dwindled as the year went on, and as of late, the Gophers turnover margin has been stellar, with Minnesota forcing 8.6 more turnovers than it makes per game in the last five.
Through a greater stretch, free-throw shooting was the great drama. Through the first 20 games, Minnesota shot just 63.9 from the charity stripe, second-worst in the league only because Michigan State has managed somehow to be even more atrocious at the line. But in the last seven games, that's abated too. The Gophers still rank second to last in the Big Ten but are shooting 73 percent in that span, almost ten percentage points better.
In some ways, these fading trends could be taken as a sign that Minnesota has done a good job of making adjustment to its weaknesses, but I'm not sure that's exactly the case. We've seen other things simply decline (the Gophers' passing ability) or remain a problem no matter what (defensive rebounding). Ball handling troubles cropped up again at the start of the league schedule before this current stretch.
Instead, it seems the Gophers are prone to mental ruts. A small problem becomes a big problem when the team focuses too much negative energy on it. This latest issue has the potential to be another such case.
In the last two games, Minnesota has allowed its most three-pointers and its second most three-pointers in team history. That's 33 long balls in all in games that – other than the defensive rebounding effort – the Gophers played fairly well overall.
Following the Indiana game, it was easy to think that a hot night for the conference's best three-point shooting team simply got the best of Minnesota. An anomaly.
After watching the film, coach Richard Pitino told the media he thought 12 of the 18 connections were properly contested. Fine. Fair enough.