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Where
williams arena
When
8:00 PM
How
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| Pos. | Minnesota Golden Gophers | Pnt/Gm | Pnt/Gm | Iowa Hawkeyes | Pos. | |
| PG | Nate Mason | 14.0 | 9.4 | Jordan Bohannon | PG | |
| G | Akeem Springs | 10.0 | 6.7 | Isaiah Moss | G | |
| F | Amir Coffey | 12.2 | 20.6 | Peter Jok | G | |
| F | Jordan Murphy | 9.4 | 5.1 | Ahmed Wagner | F | |
| C | Reggie Lynch | 8.8 | 11.9 | Tyler Cook | F | |
| Bench | Eric Curry | 5.6 | 6.7 | Nicholas Baer | Bench | |
| Bench | Dupree McBrayer | 11.0 | 9.1 | Cordell Pemsl | Bench | |
| Bench | Bakary Konate | 2.0 | 5.4 | Brady Ellingson | Bench |
The Big Ten's leading scorer, Peter Jok, is coming to the Barn. This kid has a smooth shot that rarely seems to touch iron. The Gophers will have their hands full tonight as the Iowa Hawkeyes have won three straight, two of them without Jok, and are learning to play together.
Efficiency Stats (national rank in parenthesis if significant)
| Minnesota (37) | Iowa (69) | |
| Off PPP | 1.091 | 1.135 |
| Def PPP | 0.932 (10) | 1.039 |
| Off TO% | 16.5% | 18.2% |
| Def TO% | 18.8% | 18.7% |
| Off Reb % | 29.1% | 31.3% |
| Def Reb % | 70.7% | 67.9% (286) |
What makes this matchup interesting is that the Gopher offense isn't all that efficient but it is going up against a defense that isn't all that good. On the other end of the floor the Gophers face a Hawkeye offense that is pretty good, will clearly be a test for our top 10 defense.
Keys to a Gopher Win
Stay Out of Foul Trouble - I'm looking at you Reggie Lynch and to a lesser extent Eric Curry. But we need to stay out of foul trouble so that our guards can run at shooters and make them put the ball on the floor. I'm not sure this is going to be a big night of blocked shots, but they need to stay on the floor. Due to Iowa's lack of size, this might be a good game for Murphy to break out. But regardless, these guys need to stay on the floor.
Use The Barn - This is pretty nebulous but Iowa has been pretty bad on the road this year. The Gophers need to use whatever homecourt advantage they can muster to bury the Hawkeyes. Make free throws (I think we'll get a lot of them), feed off the energy of the crowd and when we get on a run use it to bury Iowa.
Defend - Defend, defend, defend. The Gophers are a good defensive team, Iowa is a good offensive team...we win if we make their offense hard on them. They are young and are starting to figure out how to play together at this level. But we need to make sure we get to shooters and make their offense hard.
Prediction
Win. Period.