Minnesota Women’s Basketball: Gophers Jump Into Big Ten Schedule

Halfway through her second season, Minnesota Golden Gophers head basketball coach Dawn Plitzuwiet has had to deal with two significant foot injuries to her best player. Last year, the Gophers struggled in Big Ten play as Mara Braun was lost for the season. Thus, the year Braun was injured halfway through the non-conference portion of the program, the Gophers didn’t seem to miss a beat running through the non-con with a perfect 12-0 result. But the Gophers got a big wake-up call in their lone Big Ten game of the season three weeks ago in Lincoln. Nebraska dominated the Gophers in every part of the game and cruised to an easy 84-65 victory.

The Gophers won’t have any non-conference cupcakes to perform anymore as they will re-enter Big Ten play Saturday afternoon when they host Penn State at Barnet. Minnesota takes their 12-1 record into the final 17 regular season Big Ten games where they will face some of the nation’s best teams over the next two months. UCLA is currently the #1 ranked team in both the AP and the coaches poll, and USC and star player JuJu Watkins are currently withered #4 or #5. Minnesota will face both teams on their home courts in a three-day stretch in late January and early February Maryland is #8 and Ohio State is #10 in the nation – the Gophers will also have to travel to both of those teams. Add #19 Michigan State closing out the regular season in East Lansing and the Gophers road Big Ten schedule is an absolute mess. It will be a big change from beating teams like North Florida and Prairie View A&M on your home court.

The Gophers home schedule is where they will need to take care of business if they want to assemble enough of a resume to make an NCAA bid possible. The Gophers will only face a pair of home-ranked opponents in Iowa and Michigan in their nine home conference games. Minnesota will have to find a way to win the 50-50 games at home starting with the game against the Nittany Lions on Saturday.

Since Braun has been out, the Gophers have relied much more on freshman guard Tori McKinney to fill both a defensive and scoring role. Her 9.3 points per game ranks third on the team outside of Braun, and her 40.7% from three-point range ranks second on the team. She is also the best free throw shooter on the team, going 28-30 to start the season. But she’s also a true freshman who will be thrown into the fire as conference play gets hot and heavy. This is where the Gophers will answer what appears to be their most grab out of the transfer portal this offseason. Fifth-year senior Annika Stewart joined the Gophers this season after four years at Lincoln and played for Nebraska. The 6’3 Wayzata grad has shown his scoring potential both inside and outside the arc. She leads the team in scoring with an average of 11.7 points per game. game and is shooting 46.5% from three point range. he has come off the bench in a 6th player role overall this season, but will need to be a big producer for the Gophers as their depth has been battered early in the season.

In addition to Braun, the Gophers also lost Michigan transfer Taylor Woodson earlier this year after she tore her ACL in a game. Woodson played a big role off the bench for Minnesota, scoring just over eight points per game. match and played 17 minutes per competition. Since her loss, the Gophers have had to play their starters a bit more, something that could have a detrimental effect as the season drags on. Amaya Battle, McKinney, Grace Grocholski, Mallory Heyer and Sophie Hart have all started the last eight games since Braun went down. But they leave a lot to be desired in some matchups – which are ripe for exploitation in conference play. Grocholski is a great shooter and on-ball defender, but faster opponents give her some trouble. The same goes for Hart – she can battle faster post players and get into foul trouble. But Minnesota doesn’t have a good defensive replacement for Hart. The Gophers have had to reach deeper into their bench and give more time to Maggie Cinzano, Nia Holloway and Alexisa Rose, but none of those players can provide the same production that the starters can. So Minnesota, if they’re going to be successful, will need big performances from their starting five, and can’t get into a track meet. It’s not a good way to win in the Big Ten, but somehow Plitzuweit is going to have to get his team there.

We’ll know a lot more about this team over the next week. The Gophers host Penn State on Saturday, then head to Madison to play Wisconsin on Tuesday before hosting Illinois next Sunday. All three games are very winnable for this Gophers team, and frankly, they probably need to win if Minnesota is going to try to hear their name called on Selection Sunday. Drop one and it’s not the end of the world, but there will be a lot of work to do to try and sneak out a game or two that maybe you shouldn’t win on the back later in the year. Go 1-2 or worse, and Minnesota will have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do next, as it could be an indication that the Big Ten schedule could be a blow that the Gophers just cannot escape.

Saturday’s opening of the home conference is set for a tip at 3 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.