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Where
Williams arena
When
8:00 PM
How
BTN
| Pos. | Minnesota Golden Gophers | Pnt/Gm | Pnt/Gm | Michigan Wolverines | Pos. | |
| PG | Nate Mason | 13.4 | 11.7 | Derrick Walton Jr | PG | |
| G | Rachel Banham | 60 | 6.5 | Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman | G | |
| F | Dupree McBrayer | 4.9 | 11.2 | Zak Irvin | F | |
| F | Jordan Murphy | 10.7 | 12.1 | Duncan Robinson | F | |
| C | Bakary Konate | 4.9 | 7.0 | Mark Donnal | F | |
| Bench | Joey King | 11.4 | 8.1 | Aubrey Dawkins | Bench | |
| Bench | Carlos Morris | 10.3 | 3.5 | D.J. Wilson | Bench | |
| Bench | Kevin Dorsey | 6.7 | 4.0 | Ricky Doyle | Bench |
Can we borrow Banham for the night? We need a shooter.
Michigan is on a two-game, home losing streak after dropping to Indiana and Michigan State. We likely aren't catching them feeling too good about themselves and overlooking the Gophers.
Keys to a Gopher Win (yes, I realize the futile-ness of this exercise)
Defend the Three - a known issue for us but it matters more against certain teams than others. Michigan can nail the three and if you thought the Northwestern game was a blowout, just look what happens tonight if we don't defend the three. They took 31 shots from behind the arc against us in the first matchup, that was their most in Big Ten play. Fortunately they only made 9/31, but if they hit at a higher clip tonight it will get ugly FAST.
Jordan Murphy Double-Double - Lets get the freshman back to his double-double ways. Aggressive on the boards and scoring in the paint where Michigan is most vulnerable. But the real key within the key is that Murphy must stay out of foul trouble. Sitting for lengthy stretches in the first half is not going to cut it. He needs to be on the floor and we play better when he is on the floor. Want a big game from him tonight.
Force Turnovers - Only turned them over on about 8% of their possessions last time around. Michigan is pretty good at keeping possession of the ball but we need to force a few more turnovers than just 6.
Can we slow down their offense? Can we force some turnovers? Can we find some offense of our own? It's possible, not likely.
Prediction: Gophers put it all together and get a huge win.