Minnesota Basketball OPEN THREAD: Iowa Hawkeyes and Minnesota Gophers at The Barn

Where

The Barn

When

12:00 PM

How

FS1

Who

Iowa

A Sunday afternoon tilt against the Hawkeyes. All home games are huge for the Gophers in this season of home court dominance in the Big Ten, this one is no exception. Iowa would currently count as a Quad 1 win and considering our overall record, every win is important.

Can the Gophers take down #21 Iowa?

KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN

Make Threes - This tends to work better for the Gophers at home but coincidentally the Hawkeyes are really bad at defending the three on the road. Their offensive numbers are still pretty good on the road, but their defense is worse. We absolutely have to hit threes this afternoon.

No Turnovers - At Iowa we had our highest turnover % of the Big Ten season. Think that contributed to the 20-point loss? Take care of the ball and don’t give them anything easy.

Beat Garza - Make that guy frustrated because Daniel Oturu is just flat out better than he is and he’s not getting the calls he wants. He’s a big brut, and he is a very good Big Ten center. But I look forward to watching him get frustrated and making the Hawkeye offense struggle.

PREDICTION

Home games against anybody but Michigan State are going to be wins for me. Road games against anybody except Northwestern are going to be losses (and I might even hesitate on that). But this is how the Big Ten has gone this year.

Besides the Big Ten home/away records for everybody, I also think the fact that we have had a week off while Iowa just played on Thursday night can only help. A week to rest up. A week to focus on one opponent. A week to get better at the things you wish you had time to work on during the season.

Minnesota - 72
Iowa - 60