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Where
Columbus
When
6:00 PM
How
BTN
| Pos. | Minnesota Golden Gophers | Pnt/Gm | Pnt/Gm | Ohio State Buckeyes | Pos. | |
| PG | Nate Mason | 13.7 | 10.3 | Kam Williams | PG | |
| G | Akeem Springs | 9.0 | 12.4 | JaQuan Lyle | G | |
| F | Amir Coffey | 12.3 | 14.1 | Jae'Sean Tate | G | |
| F | Jordan Murphy | 9.9 | 11.1 | Marc Loving | F | |
| C | Reggie Lynch | 8.4 | 10.7 | Trevor Thompson | F | |
| Bench | Eric Curry | 5.9 | 3.8 | C.J. Jackson | Bench | |
| Bench | Dupree McBrayer | 11.8 | 4.3 | Micah Potter | Bench | |
| Bench | Bakary Konate | 2.3 | 1.8 | Andre Wesson | Bench |
The Gophers have not won a game in Columbus since 2005 and they are 1-16 in their last 17 tries. Forgetting that I may feel good about this match up for a moment, that is a really ugly streak against a Big Ten opponent.
Efficiency Stats (national rank in parenthesis if significant)
| Minnesota (38) | Ohio St (57) | |
| Off PPP | 1.064 | 1.096 |
| Def PPP | 0.898 (7) | 0.977 |
| Off TO% | 16.9% | 18.7% |
| Def TO% | 19.2% | 17.9% |
| Off Reb % | 28.3% | 29.9% |
| Def Reb % | 70.4% | 71.4% |
Keys to a Gopher Win
3M Back on Track - Mason and Murphy were profiled today in the Star Tribune as a couple of the Gopher leaders who have struggled lately in the Gopher's three-game losing streak. I think it is fair to add McBrayer ot that list as well. These three are our more experienced and talented players. Watching overtime of the Wisconsin game one could have assumed that Murphy and McBrayer must have fouled out, but nope they were just not playing well enough to be trusted in those critical minutes. Tonight that needs to change.
Defend AGAIN - The 10 point win at Williams Arena was largely due to the fact that the Gophers played great defense on Ohio State. Statistically it was Ohio State's worst offensive efficiency and second worst offensive eFG%. Gophers need to play great defense again tonight and make every possession difficult for the Buckeyes.
Get to the Line and Make Them - This team shot the ball rather well from three last game. Uncharacteristically well. My fear is that we will begin to give up on penetration and think we are going to make 53% of our threes again. But penetration and scoring or getting to the line is what we do best. We can get to the lane against this team and when we get fouled, we need to make our free throws.
Prediction
I like how we match up with Ohio State. Even with it being on the road and a place we just don't very often win at, I like how we match up and I think we end the losing streak tonight.