Q&A with Rick Rickert

Minnesota freshman forward Rick Rickert was named the Big Ten Player of the Week after leading the Golden Gophers to wins over Penn State and Indiana. The freshman scored 26 against the Nittany Lions hitting 9-of-12 from the field including three treys and followed that with 27 points and six rebounds versus the Hoosiers. The Minnesota native leads Big Ten freshmen in scoring at 14.1 points per game and is second in rebounding pulling down 5.2 per contest. Rickert, the first freshman to win Big Ten Player of the Week honors since Luke Recker in 1998, is also seventh in the Conference in field goal percentage (53.6) and ranks 15th in the League in three-point shooting hitting 39.1 percent from beyond the arc. Behind Rickert, the Golden Gophers have risen to 3rd in the League standings with a 6-3 Conference record and currently stand at 13-7 overall. A three-time all-state selection and two-time Associated Press Minnesota Player of the Year in high school, Rickert was also awarded Mr. Basketball in Minnesota in 2001 when he averaged 25.7 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 6.9 blocks per game. The 6-10 freshman recently spoke with Matt Savoti of the Big Ten Conference about his recent performance.

You scored 26 and 27 points in back-to-back games, is it a case where you're in the zone as they say?
Well, everything is just coming together for me and my team all at once. That's really nice to have. We're coming along real nice.

You knew that the level of play would move up considerably from high school to college but is there anything that you didn't expect or has there been anything that has been easier than you anticipated?
No, it's been pretty much exactly what I expected coming in. I knew it was going to be difficult. I knew there were going to be a lot of things that I needed to adjust to and so far I think I've done a pretty good job.

Minnesota has always been traditionally strong at home and that's been no different this year. What do you think it is about Williams Arena that makes you guys so strong and gives other teams such a hard time?
I don't know, just our fire in there. That place gets really rocking and things get going. It's just the atmosphere in there.

Now, you guys have four out of your next five games on the road, which can basically make or break your chances to go to the NCAA Tournament; what's been the mindset? I'm sure you've talked about that at practice, how important this road trip is.
Yeah, exactly. The same intensity that we bring to Williams Arena is the same intensity that we have to bring on the road in order to be successful, and we're going to see what's new and see how much we've improved. The Iowa game (Saturday) will be a good indicator.

You're shooting a pretty good percentage from three-point range (39.1) for a big man, when did you start to develop that outside shot?
I developed it for awhile now. I probably started shooting them in games my freshman year in high school.

Was that something that you took upon yourself to develop an outside shot or did you have someone who mentored you and said this will put you a step above the rest of the big men?
Well, I kind of did it on my own and with the help of my dad. He just pushed me to get better in all areas so that's one thing that I definitely wanted to improve on.

You could have probably gone just about anywhere in the country, was there ever a doubt that you were going to end up at Minnesota?
Well, there was a doubt because I committed to Arizona at first.

What did it come down to? Was it a case of the local kid who wanted to stay home and play for the state school?
It came down to a lot of things. There were so many factors that went into it. It was something that I had to look at really carefully; staying in Minnesota or going to Arizona and it just happened that I went here.