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Believe it or not but this will be the 9th consecutive season we have faced the Jackrabbits from South Dakota State. The bad news is that they have a very good team lead by Nate Wolters. The good news is the Gophers are 15-0 lifetime against the Jackrabbits.
UPDATE: Nate Wolters, the Jackrabbit's best player may not play due to a severely sprained ankle. This would be terrible news for SDSU fans and will likely make for an incredibly boring game for Gopher fans.
Game Time: 7:00
TV: NOT (this sucks)
Internet: ESPN3
Radio: AM1500 and the Gopher Radio Network
| Pos | #14 - Minnesota | Pnt/Gm | Pnt/Gm | South Dakota State | Pos | |
| PG | Andre Hollins | 12.8 | 18.9 | Nate Wolters | PG | |
| G | Austin Hollins | 11.6 | 8.3 | Chad White | G | |
| F | Joe Coleman | 10.1 | 9.0 | Brayden Carlson | G | |
| F | Rodney Williams | 14.1 | 9.4 | Tony Fiegen | F | |
| C | Elliott Eliason | 2.7 | 12.8 | Jordan Dykstra | F | |
| Bench | Trevor Mbakwe | 8.4 | 7.3 | Taevaunn Prince | Bench | |
| Bench | Maverick Ahanmisi | 5.3 | 3.6 | Jake Bittle | Bench | |
| Bench | Julian Welch | 2.8 | 4.4 | Marcus Heemstra | Bench |
It is no secret what has to happen tonight for the Gophers to come away with their 9th win. Slow down Nate Wolters and let the rest of the roster beat you.
South Dakota State is a dangerous mid-major who at last projection was a tourney team and a 13th seed. With a couple of nice non-conference wins, they could even sneak out an at-large bid. But one of those non-conference wins might have to be tonight at The Barn, so let's not let that happen.
My go-to is always KenPom's possession stats and it paints a nice picture for the Gophers. This will be an interesting match-up because South Dakota St's strength will be directly matched-up with our defensive strength. But where we should have a major advantage is the fact that they are not a great defensive team. The Jackrabbits rank 259th nationally in defensive points per possession and 255th in defensive effective FG% and they rank 281st in defensive rebounding. We should get a ton of offensive rebounds, quite a few open looks from the outside and scoring shouldn't be a major problem. Overall we are given a 91% chance of winning. I think I agree with the number, unless Wolters has a career night and we shoot a season low FG%.
Get this win.