Oturu Refining Game on Both Sides, Adjusting to Life in the Big Ten

Daniel Oturu's go-to post move isn't fancy. In fact, it gets under teammate Jarvis Omersa's skin.

"There's times where you'll see Daniel catch the ball in the post," said Omersa, "and he'll just sit, sit, and then he'll just like burst up, finish high and strong. ... When I played against him, I'd hate when he would do that because literally, you can't time it."

Oturu, averaging 10.7 points on the season, has been scoring his points with impeccable post patience. He was one away from a season-high in points against Purdue with 19 last Sunday, then followed it up with his sixth double-double against Wisconsin in a 12-point, 11-rebound performance. Even more impressively, he held the Badgers' Ethan Happ to four first-half points on 2-of-8 shooting -- an improved defensive effort in a season where Oturu is still adjusting to the physicality of the Big Ten.

"[i'm] using the things that I have to my advantage like my length and my speed and my quickness," said Oturu, "more than like trying to outmuscle a guy, now I'm trying to beat them to a spot before they get there."

The freshman started the first 18 games of the season before being replaced by Eric Curry in the starting lineup once Curry got back in game shape following an injury and Oturu dealt with a minor shoulder issue. Despite not starting the last two games, Oturu still played 27 and 30 minutes, respectively.

"I think he learned a valuable lesson versus Purdue because he wasn't great there," said Pitino. "Physicality-wise and defensively he wasn't very good. But he learned from it and got a lot better versus Wisconsin, so hopefully that's a step forward in the right direction. Freshmen are very, very hard. Defensively, physically, rebounding the ball, they're not normally very good, so he took a step forward."

Oturu had his eyes opened against sizable opponents like Ohio State and Rutgers early in the Big Ten season when he was held to single digits in scoring. As the season has progressed, he's developed more maturity in the low post and tried to stretch the floor with a mid-range jump shot. His 58.5 percent shooting mark is tops on the team.

"I don't like to get my shot blocked, so sometimes I'll do just a little freeze," said Oturu. "Just being able to stop for a second and see what the defense is trying to throw at me is very helpful."

He thinks he also has a 3-point shot in his arsenal, but he's yet to attempt one this season.

"He's gonna be a special player," said Pitino. "His offensive skillset is terrific, he's just learning all the other things."

Twitter Ban Lifted

Fans may have noticed that Gophers players -- and Coach Pitino himself -- have been more active on Twitter this season. That's because Pitino lifted the Twitter ban he had instituted the past three years that was designed to help players block out noise.

"I don't know if they really care as much about Twitter as Instagram and things like that," said Pitino. "I'm a big believer in rules that you can really, really police. I don't like rules that might be a little bit irrelevant. I don't know if these guys care about Twitter as much anymore. I think they're on Snapchat and Instagram, so I think that had a lot to do with it."

Instagram and Snapchat are known for being more private than Twitter. Few of the Gophers are particularly active on Twitter with most limiting their activity to retweets of other users' content.

"Guys have become much more sophisticated with Twitter than in the past," said Pitino. "I think everybody's starting to learn from it a little bit."

Respect For Sparty

The Gophers face Michigan State on Saturday, losers of three consecutive after rattling off 13 wins in a row. Minnesota hasn't won in East Lansing since Feb. 26, 2015 when they beat the Spartans 96-90 in overtime.

Since the New Year, the Spartans junior Cassius Winston is averaging 20.8 points and 7.3 assists per game while shooting 3s at 43.6 percent.

"He's rock solid at everything," said Pitino. "He's kind of that pure point guard mold, can score, doesn't turn the ball over, tough, winner, seasoned veteran. He just kind of checks all those boxes."

Tom Izzo, of course, looks to have his team ready despite the losing skid. Michigan State hasn't lost consecutive games at home since January of 2016.

"They're very, very talented, obviously well-coached," said Pitino. "We've got our hands full."

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