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A couple of fringe NCAA teams looking for their first Big Ten win of the year.
Time: 1:30 CST
TV: BTN
Radio: AM 1500 ESPN
| Pos. | Minnesota Golden Gophers | Pnt/Gm | Pnt/Gm | Purdue Boilermakers | Pos. | |
| PG | Deandre Mathieu | 11.4 | 11.1 | Ronnie Johnson | PG | |
| G | Andre Hollins | 15.9 | 13.9 | Terone Johnson | G | |
| G | Austin Hollins | 12.6 | 4.8 | Rapheal Davis | F | |
| F | Oto Osenieks | 6.9 | 6.6 | Basil Smotherman | F | |
| F | Elliott Eliason | 6.1 | 8.8 | A.J. Hammons | C | |
| Bench | Malik Smith | 9.9 | 7.2 | Kendall Stephens | Bench | |
| Bench | Joey King | 7.3 | 9.1 | Bryson Scott | Bench | |
| Bench | Maurice Walker | 5.5 | 4.9 | Errick Peck | Bench |
Both of these teams get the bulk of their scoring out of their guards. It will be the battle of the Hollins bothers (not actually brothers) against the Johnson brothers (not actually brothers).
Efficiency Stats (national rank in parenthesis if significant)
| Minnesota (38) | Purdue (89) | |
| Off PPP | 1.131 (30) | 1.074 |
| Def PPP | 0.977 | 1.004 |
| Off TO% | 16.9% | 16.7% |
| Def TO% | 20.6% | 18.9% |
| Off Reb % | 37.0% | 37.3% (37) |
| Def Reb % | 71.3% | 66.5% (244) |
This Purdue team has good size but you can see that they really do not rebound defensively. Like the Gophers, they struggle to get defensive rebounding out of PF (rank 290th in the country). Most of the other efficiency stats are fairly benign. Turnovers are about the same, yet an important stat for both teams. Both teams hit the offensive glass pretty well. The Gophers are a more efficient team both offensively and defensively but I expect that Purdue will still be difficult to score on in the half-court.
Keys to a Gopher Win
Offensive Rebounding - Four of our last five games the Gophers have been above 40% in offensive rebound percentage. Facing a team that really hasn't been very good rebounding opponent misses. This is an area where we can gain a significant advantage.
Control Tempo - This is going to be one of the first tests to see the Pitino system matched-up against a traditional Big Ten team that is physical, plays a half-court game and is pretty good defensively. They are not Wisconsin in this regard (nobody is), but Matt Painter's teams are usually very physical and very good defensively. Can the Gophers, on their own court, control tempo and speed up Purdue a little bit?