Akeem Springs' Confidence Buoying Struggling Gophers
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Gophers men's basketball team has a week to prepare for the Fighting Illini on Saturday.
They need the work on has become a fragile mindset that comes with five straight losses. But the silver lining is a fifth-year senior.
Akeem Springs came for one year from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and it's paying off.
Springs is rare find. He already graduated from UW-Milwaukee, which means he can be more of a gym rat.
"I'm in grad school, so I don't have a bunch of classes, so all throughout the week I usually get in, get my shots up in the morning," Springs said.
That's what has led to him making shots in games and getting playing time as a starter.
"He was mature, and we thought that part of it would really help. It was a bit of a bummer that he didn't get here till September because he had to finish up summer school," said Head Coach Richard Pitino. "With fifth-year seniors, it's tough. If they're not playing a lot right away, it's hard, and I get it. So now that he's comfortable with his role, he's providing great, great leadership."
What has blossomed is a senior who leads with a jump shot; the ability to make it through a process that he hopes is rubbing off on teammates through the recent drought.
"It's not like we're playing bad basketball, so it's not a time to panic. And I think we're still a confident group, and we should be a confident group," Springs said. "I think we'll bounce back."
And it looks like Springs may be the key to that bounce back.
"When we recruited him and we went to … Milwaukee to visit him, you could tell he's a confident kid, a smart kid, an analytical kid," Pitino said.
Tip-off against Illinois is this Saturday at 3 p.m. at State Farm Center in Champaign.
