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Where
Sioux falls, sd
When
6:00 PM
How
ESPN3
| Pos. | Minnesota Golden Gophers | Pnt/Gm | Pnt/Gm | Vanderbilt Commodores | Pos. | |
| PG | Nate Mason | 12.7 | 10.3 | Riley LaChance | PG | |
| G | Dupree McBrayer | 11.4 | 6.9 | Payton Willis | G | |
| F | Amir Coffey | 14.6 | 15.3 | Matthew Fisher-Davis | G | |
| F | Jordan Murphy | 10.1 | 10.6 | Jeff Roberson | F | |
| C | Reggie Lynch | 8.8 | 14.0 | Luke Kornet (7'1") | C | |
| Bench | Eric Curry | 7.7 | 5.6 | Nolan Cressler | Bench | |
| Bench | Akeem Springs | 7.3 | 4.4 | Joe Toye | Bench | |
| Bench | Michael Hurt | 0.7 | 4.0 | Djery Baptiste | Bench |
Kornet is a big kid and scoring 14 points a game, should be an interesting matchup with Lynch. But the real question is, can we get past the curse of South Dakota?
Efficiency Stats (national rank in parenthesis if significant)
| Minnesota (57) | Vandy (69) | |
| Off PPP | 1.060 | 1.081 |
| Def PPP | 0.945 | 0.988 |
| Off TO% | 17.3% | 21.2% (258) |
| Def TO% | 19.0% | 16.4% (307) |
| Off Reb % | 30.2% | 31.1% |
| Def Reb % | 68.9% | 74.6% |
Must do a better job on the boards, but our defensive eFG% is still really outstanding. It isn't showed in the chart above but it stands as the 10th best in the country. I chalk that up largely due to perimeter guys feeling safe to guard shooters tight because they trust Lynch/Curry to affect shots in the paint. d
Keys to a Gopher Win
TURNOVERS - Vandy turns it over a lot and doesn't force turnovers. We aren't outstanding on either side of this, but we are much better statistically. This isn't absolutely necessary but would help tremendously towards winning tonight. Force some turnovers and get out and run. This was not happening at Florida State, but it may be possible tonight.
Free Throws - I don't want ot put this down for every thread, but it reared it's ugly head at FSU and we need to hit free throws away from the Barn (and at the Barn for that matter).
Get Coffey Going Again - The freshman struggled in the Florida State game, get him back in the flow of the offense and adjusting to college ball against a good team.
Prediction
Gophers win, going 3-1 against P5 teams in non-conference and we are all pleased.
Gophers by 11