Everything Niko Medved said following Minnesota's 66-54 win over Chicago State
Minnesota head coach Niko Medved met with the media following the Golden Gophers’ 66-54 win over Chicago State on Tuesday night. Here’s everything that the Golden Gophers’ head coach had to say following his team’s fourth win of the season.
Q: You know, tough, hard-fought win. What did you make of it overall?
Medved: Clearly we’re struggling a little bit on offense right now. Watching the film, we knew this team plays really hard. Their style is a little chaotic, but they really collapse the paint and force you to drive. I thought for a lot of the game we moved the ball well and found open guys. We just really struggled to make shots, and it got frustrating.
The big thing we need to keep improving is finding more juice and energy when things aren’t going our way. With so many new guys, you’ve got to learn how to get through moments like that. In the second half, it was a fight, and we made the plays we needed down the stretch. Chauncey had some great defensive moments, we got on the glass, and switching to zone late changed the rhythm of the game. We scored on our last five possessions and knocked down our free throws. Every game takes on its own identity, and tonight we needed every bit of that.
Q: You talk about every game having its own identity. Are the offensive issues something bigger than just one night? You’ve been in the 60s against Missouri and Green Bay.
Medved If you’re scoring in the 60s, that’s an issue. I don’t know exactly what it is yet. We’re also the same team that scored a lot of points earlier in the season. It’s still early. I have to see the film. Maybe we shot too many threes — and maybe that’s on the style of defense we saw tonight.
But I’m going to take wide-open threes for Isaac, Bobby Durkin, Cade Tyson, and Croc. Croc shot 41 percent in Mountain West play last year. Those are shots we trust, as long as they come off paint touches and ball movement. We’ll figure it out. You learn a lot about yourself through games like this.
Q: Has the quality of looks you’re getting changed over the last couple weeks?
Medved: I don’t know if it’s the quality. Green Bay was different — their changing defenses flustered us. Tonight it felt like we got pretty good looks. Honestly, I don’t think we were aggressive enough attacking. We had numbers sometimes and were too cautious kicking it out.
And you saw it — how many layups did we miss? Just bunnies. Those are good shots. Wide-open threes are good shots. Analytics say take them, and I trust our guys to make them. We just didn’t tonight.
We also looked tired. Third game in seven days. Not an excuse — everyone deals with it — but we’re banged up and need a day off. Tomorrow we get that reset and come back Thursday with more energy.
Q: When you needed someone to bring juice, who stepped up?
Medved: Guys are learning. Chauncey brings a lot of energy. Croc does too. But as a group, it’s something we’ve got to keep growing into. When things aren’t going well personally, it’s easy to get frustrated. That’s normal with a roster full of new guys. But they’re a great group — positive, they pull for each other, and they work.
Q: What about the zone changed the game for you?
Medved: In the second half, we had chances to extend the lead, then missed three layups and a couple wide-open shots. We couldn’t get going, and they started attacking downhill. Cade picked up his third foul.
I felt like we needed to get them off the attack, and the zone did that. It got them standing around, forced long possessions, and we weren’t fouling. We rebounded well out of it. It was just a feel thing. We practice it — not a ton — but every season there’s a moment where it wins you a game. This was one.
Q: What happened to Robert?
Medved He had a collision with his knee. We’ll know more tomorrow. Hopefully it’s nothing structural. He’s a big part of what we do moving forward.
Q: San Francisco is up next. What do you know about them?
Medved: I’m very familiar with their program from being out west. Starting with Kyle Smith and Todd Golden, they’ve built a great program. They’re incredibly well coached, they win, and the WCC is a strong league — St. Mary’s, Gonzaga, San Francisco.
It’ll be a big challenge. I haven’t watched them this year yet, but I’ve seen plenty of them in the past. Our fans may not know them well, but it’s a really good program. I’m looking forward to it.
I’ve never been to the Pentagon either — never played a game there — so that’ll be new. And we’ve got a fan base up there. Saturday should be fun.
