![Gophers head coach Richard Pitino spoke with Gophers guard Andre Hollins as he came off the court in the second half Wednesday night at Williams Arena. ] JEFF WHEELER • jeff.wheeler@startribune.com The University of Minnesota men's basketball team trounced Southern University 85-57 at Williams Arena Wednesday night, December 10, 2014 in Minneapolis.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/ILG2VYMQZZ4GWPZDUKM36RUGIY.jpg?&w=1080)
Merry Christmas, everyone. Hope everyone has had a nice little holiday season and lots of good food, no matter what you celebrate.
Minnesota's break was a short one this year with the last non-conference game -- vs. UNC Wilmington -- just around the corner, on December 27th. Then it's the conference schedule, starting with a pair of road games at Purdue and Maryland.
In the meantime, here's what the Gophers are hoping Santa Claus left them ...
Some power forward depth. OK, so the fat man probably didn't drop a brawny, imposing big man on the steps of Williams Arena, seeing as how it'd be against NCAA rules to put another guy on scholarship anyway -- but the Gophers would love to see improvement from every player they do have in the rotation. Joey King is playing about as well as he's capable of, and that's huge. But Charles Buggs needs to improve defensively, Bakary Konate (who is really a center but will be used at the 4 at times) needs to get better with his hands. International newbie Gaston Diedhiou has to get much, much better all-around before he even steps on the court, but boy could coach Richard Pitino use him.
Better rebounding skills. There aren't many natural rebounders on this team. Elliott Eliason might be the only one. The guards have actually been pretty good in picking up their share, but none of them can reasonably be expected to average more than four rebounds a game. King and Mo Walker and Konate and Buggs must get better or the Gophers will find that aspect their Achilles heel in the conference slate.
A healthy Andre Hollins. It's just turf toe, but we've seen injuries linger with Hollins, who seemed a bit off in Minnesota's 86-76 win over Furman, in which he went 0-for-4 from three-point range. Pitino said afterward that he thought it was bad enough that he was worried the senior wouldn't be able to play. So now with the schedule ramping up, Minnesota is hoping Santa delivered a little extra healing power to one of their best guards.
Super glue for players' fingers. The Gophers likely won't continue to average 12.3 steals a game come Big Ten contests, and if Minnesota falls off in that strength, the 14 turnovers a game -- second worst in the Big Ten -- could come back to bite them. As it is, the Gophers have the best turnover margin in the league. And some of the turnover-proneness is certainly a somewhat normal side effect of the pressing style of the defense. But think of how much of a strength their high-intensity defense would be if the Gophers could cut down on the miscues a bit.
More luck on the road. A year ago, Minnesota managed to seize just two wins on the road in the conference schedule and neither of them very impressive -- at Penn State and at Northwestern. Some of those seven games lost were the result of Minnestoa simply getting beat. Sometimes, it was the case of a couple balls rolling the wrong way. Ultimately, the lack of a road resume was one of the major reasons the Gophers missed the NCAA tournament. The Gophers have shown they're capable of holding serve pretty well on their home court. But if they're going to take the next step, they'll have to pick up a couple more road wins too.
