Richard Pitino felt the need to preemptively distance freshman guard Gabe Kalscheur from any early “just a shooter” labels during preseason. The Gophers men’s basketball coach instead chose to point to the DeLaSalle graduate’s poise and defense.
Well, Kalscheur let it fly against Utah on Monday night.
Kalscheur made all four of his 3-pointers in the first half and paced the Gophers with 12 points. He kept it alive to finish 5 of 6 from deep and led four teammates in double figures with 19 in Minnesota’s 78-69 win over Utah at Williams Arena.
The Gophers improved to 2-0 on 52 percent shooting, including 37 percent from 3-point range, but everyone besides Kalscheur was a combined 2 for 13 from behind the arc. Amir Coffey added 14 points, Daniel Orturu 13, and Jordan Murphy had 11 and 17 rebounds.
During a 104-76 season-opening win over Nebraska Omaha, Pitino played Kalscheur only 17 minutes, thinking the freshman, who has been inserted into the starting lineup, was more like a veteran who didn’t really need as much playing time in a blowout. He made two of three 3-pointers and had eight points against the Mavericks.
“He’s not even a little bit of a surprise because he takes the game seriously,” Pitino said. “… He doesn’t mess around, rarely do you see that from a freshman. He’s just got a pro mentality, so every time he shoots no one is surprised when it goes in.”
Pitino, who likes Kalscheur’s confidence with the ball in his hand, high release and ball rotation, said Kalscheur’s preparation is like clockwork; he’s always on the court a half hour beforehand. “Always, and he’s not going to deviate from that routine,” Pitino said.
Down the stretch Monday, Pitino entrusted Kalscheur and fellow freshman Oturu to close out the game against a Pac-12 foe. Kalscheur made a pair of free throws and a driving baby hook shot in the final two minutes.
The Gophers held Utah to 35 percent shooting and 22 percent from 3-point range in the first half, with those numbers only ticking up some in the second half.
But it was Kalscheur’s shooting that stole the show, especially over Utah’s zone defense.
“(Gabe) gets his reps in and the extra time in the gym, so obviously we’re really confident in him and ability to shoot when teams are trying to zone us,” said Murphy, a senior. “That’s something that we were really missing for a very long time since I’ve been here, so just having that pressure relief right there that Gabe gave us against zones was pretty good.”
Backup guard Isaiah Washington was 0 for 5 from 3 and had one assist compared with the 11 he had against Omaha.
“I don’t know what he was doing,” Pitino said. “He just kept shooting 3s. I said, ‘Steph Curry, please stop shooting 3s. Do something else.’ It was one of those he wanted to make one and get over it.”
The Gophers took a 12-7 lead before Murphy was called for his second foul and went to the bench at 13:11 in the first half.
With Minnesota’s top post presence sitting, Utah went on a 11-2 run. Murphy returned and Minnesota retook a lead it wouldn’t relinquish, leading 33-26 at the half.
Utah’s best player, point guard Sedric Barefield, also dealt with foul trouble and had only two points and no assists in eight minutes in the first half. He and Vante Hendrix finished with a Utes high of 14 apiece.