Minnesota Basketball: Three Keys for beating Jacksonville Dolphins

The Barn

8:00 PM

BTN

Jacksonville

Dolphins head coach, Jordan Mincy, is in his first season at the helm of the Jacksonville program and, like Ben Johnson, is navigating his first season as a head coach at any level. Mincy is a former guard at Kent State and prior to taking the Dolphins job he was an assistant at Florida for 6 seasons.

Can he bring his Dolphins into the Barn and give the Gophers their first loss? Here are the keys to avoid that happening.

Jacksonville

Mascot: Dolphins
Conference: A-Sun
Record: 2-1
KenPom Rank: #268

KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN

Execution - Run the offense and execute it throughout the game. The Dolphins are not particularly strong on either end of the floor and my fear is more around sloppiness than anything else. Execute the offense and continue to take good shots.

Don’t foul - Really Jacksonville does not shoot free throws very well and they are not particularly adept at getting to the line more frequently than others. But a game with a lot of fouls means more bench play for the Gophers, bogs down the flow of the game.

Stay healthy - The way the Gophers have opened the season, this game should not be in doubt, but I’d really like to see the 7 guys who see the most playing time come out of this game healthy.

PREDICTION

As stated, this game should not be in doubt. It is certainly possible that the Dolphins come out shooting hot, get a bunch of offensive rebounds and make this game close. But nothing indicates that should happen. Execute your offense, play decent defense and the Gophers should have a double-digit win.

Minnesota - 77
Jacksonville - 61