Gophers and Purdue for the third time, this time in the Big Ten Tournament - OPEN THREAD

Where

The United Center

When

6:00 PM

How

BTN

Who

Purdue

Round three of Gophers vs Purdue, and hopefully the third one is as entertaining as the first two. To be honest, this is a team that the Gophers seem to matchup well with. Were it not for a bad second-half collapse on the road, the Gophers could easily be 2-0 against the Big Ten co-champs.

Can the Gophers take 2 out of 3 from Purdue?

KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN

Amir Coffey - This kid can carry the Gophers to wins over anybody. His 32 in the win over Purdue was huge and he has been averaging 27 points over his last 4 games. It is no coincidence that we are 3-1 in those games.

Make Threes - In both games against Purdue the Gophers were 6/26 from three. Just imagine if they went out and shot 33% or better from three. How that might open things up for Murphy and Oturu inside! How about doing something different tonight, let’s make a bunch of threes.

Win the Paint - Jordan Murphy was solid in the second game against Purdue but Daniel Oturu really struggled. Oturu had 19 in the loss but Murphy did very little. I’d like to see both big men have good games, dominate the glass and score.

PREDICTION

The other key here is to make sure Carsen Edwards doesn’t shoot well. He is 4/24 shooting from three against Minnesota this year and it is no coincidence that Minnesota controlled most of the 80 minutes played between these teams. Defense matters and needs to be shown again tonight.

Purdue is really good and I cannot actually pick the Gophers to win, but hopefully we come out hot and it carries us to a win.

Minnesota - 64
Purdue - 68