BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Minnesota struggled to win eight games last season with one of the low points a crushing 84-70 loss to South Dakota State at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, the first loss to the Jackrabbits in the 18-game series history, dating back to the early '30s.
Joe Krabbenhoft was at courtside for the upset last December. And he was more than just a spectator; he was an active participant in the game planning. Before returning to Wisconsin this season as a member of Greg Gard's staff, Krabbenhoft was a South Dakota State assistant for three years.
"It's a completely different (Minnesota) team now — night and day," said Krabbenhoft, who had the scouting report on the Gophers in advance of Saturday's renewal of the Border Battle at the Barn. "The roster is different in a lot of ways and the identity of the team has focused on the defensive end."
(The Gophs lead in the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense and blocked shots.)
"The guys they did have returning from last year learned from what they went through and decided that was not the way they wanted it to go and they're playing like a team that clearly has their eyes on the NCAA tournament. We know that."
The only significant graduation losses from an 8-23 team were Joey King and Carlos Morris, who averaged 11.6 and 9.8 points, respectively. As it was, Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino dismissed Morris, a senior captain, from the program in mid-February for "conduct detrimental to the team."
Since then, one of the most important additions to the roster has been Amir Coffey, a 6-foot-8, 195-pound freshman from Hopkins, Minnesota, a Mr. Basketball in the state and the son of Richard Coffey, who played in 109 games for the Gophers (1986-90). The younger Coffee led Hopkins to the 2016 Class 4A state championship.
"He has completely changed them," Krabbenhoft said of Coffey, who has started all 18 games and averaged 31 minutes, 12 points and 4 rebounds. "He plays the game the right way, really hard. The passion and energy with which he plays with has been infectious and that says a lot for a freshman."
Coffey, who had a season-high 30 points against St. John's and a Big Ten-high 19 points against Ohio State, has been one of three guards in the starting lineup for the Gophers joining Dupree McBrayer, a 6-5 sophomore from Queens, New York, and Nate Mason, a 6-2 junior from Decatur, Georgia.
However, Coffee, McBrayer and Mason combined for only 18 points (7-of-25 from the field) in last Saturday's 52-50 loss at Penn State. Mason was held to his lowest output (7 points) of the season after scoring 10 or more points in 17 of 18 games, including 31 in an overtime win at Purdue.
Krabbenhoft characterized Mason as a "very aggressive point guard" and someone "who's fully capable of putting the team on his back and carrying them." Before last March's game against Wisconsin, Pitino suspended Mason, McBrayer and Kevin Dorsey for the remainder of the season.
Mason still ended up leading the Gophers in scoring (13.8) and assists (121). After being named one of three captains — along with sophomore Jordan Murphy and Akeem Springs, the UW-Milwaukee grad transfer — he has picked up where he left off with 102 assists and a 13.9 scoring average.
With Minnesota struggling offensively, scoring 47 and 50 points in back-to-back losses to Michigan State and Penn State, Pitino revealed earlier in the week that the 6-4, 220-pound Springs would start ahead of McBrayer against the Badgers. Springs leads the Gophers with 38 triples (.388).
One of the more intriguing matchups Saturday could be at the low post between Wisconsin's Ethan Happ and Minnesota's Reggie Lynch, a 6-10, 260-pound junior from Edina, Minn. Lynch redshirted last season after transferring from Illinois State where he started 50 of 67 games over two years.
On Lynch, who leads the Big Ten in blocks (54), Krabbenhoft said, "He knows his role, he knows who he is and he's there to anchor a really good defensive team at the rim. It's going to be a battle for our whole team, but specifically for our big guys down low to score on him. It's not going to be easy."
Happ, who has been shooting well above 60 percent from the field, was challenged around the rim by the length and size of Ohio State's 6-10 Trevor Thompson and Michigan's 6-10 D.J. Wilson and 6-11 Moritz Wagner. Over the last two games, he has made just 8 of 23 shots.
"We'll see what he has learned and how he has improved," Krabbenhoft said. "That's one thing with Ethan, he's a very, very intelligent basketball player. From the beginning of the game to the end of the game, he changes the way he needs to play. He figures things out."
Besides Lynch, who's averaging 8 points and 6 rebounds, the Gophers will bring a couple of bigs off the bench in Bakary Konate', a 6-11, 235-pound junior from Bamako, Mali; and Eric Curry, a 6-9, 235-pound freshman from Memphis, Tennessee. Konate has 20 blocks (tying him with Murphy) and Curry has 17.
"Keep it simple," Krabbenhoft said of the advice that he would give Happ. "He's able to do so many advanced moves a lot of guys his age don't know how to do in a post drill, let alone out on a court. But sometimes you've just got to keep it even more simple when you're facing that much size.
"You have to trust your instincts and what you've worked on — maybe a simple right-hand hook — and not get fancy with it. Also then you have to be persistent and not back down if you get your shot blocked or if you don't get a call to go your way. You've just got to stay at 'em.
"That's something Ethan has done throughout his career. You ask the big guys that he has faced after the game how they're feeling because Ethan stays at 'em and he wears them out. We preach that to Ethan: stay confident and keep wearing them out because his energy level is through the roof."
That's how the 6-7, 219-pound Krabbenhoft played during his prep career in Sioux Falls, S.D., which made him an inviting target for a lot of Big Ten recruiters. In the end, he picked the Badgers over the Gophers and never missed a game, a streak of 136 straight, including 70 starts at the UW.
"Minnesota is kind of a home away from home — it was growing up — that's where my entire extended family is from," he said. "I grew up watching a lot of Gophers games and I went to Clem Haskins' basketball camp every year. At the end of the day, I'm glad I came here to Wisconsin. But it was close."
Bobby Jackson, a former Minnesota guard and Big Ten Player of the Year (1997), was Krabbenhoft's favorite. "I really liked how hard he played all the time, he was fun to watch," he said. "He had those high socks and I wore my socks high for a long time because of him."
Whenever the Badgers played at Williams Arena, Krabbenhoft could count on as many as 20 family members and friends in attendance. Saturday's game is expected to be a sellout, the first in two seasons for the Gophers, dating to the 2015 Wisconsin game.
"It's a great college basketball environment and there's a lot of history there," said Krabbenhoft, who won his first three games there (2006-2008) as a Badger player. "The one thing about the Barn, you usually saw a lot of red which was neat and I hope we'll see that again on Saturday."
