Minnesota Basketball: The Hawkeyes come to the Barn, 3 keys to a Gopher win

The Barn

1:00 PM

BTN

Iowa

A brutal early schedule as the Gophers on a 3-game losing streak. Can they get back into the win column with Iowa at The Barn?

Iowa

Mascot: Hawkeyes
Record: 12-4
KenPom Rank: 20

Iowa brings a highly efficient offense with a mediocre defense, can the Gophers slow them down enough to end their losing streak?

KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN

Uncharacteristic rebounding - Iowa is great at offensive rebounding and they suck at defensive rebounding (279th nationally). Can the Gophers, who are the worst offensive rebounding team in the country, get some additional offensive opportunities with some offensive boards? It would help a ton.

Threes - As per usual, making threes and defending the three is crucial. Iowa has four losses to quality teams, three were on the road and all four where ones where they didn’t shoot as well from three as their opponent. This isn’t rocket science, making more threes helps tremendously.

Keegan Murray, must stop - At 24 points per game, this guy is clearly the focal point of any opponent’s defense.

PREDICTION

Three games in a row that resulted in a loss, that’s not ideal. This Gopher team has clearly out-performed expectations this year but they had a tough 3-game stretch. So is Iowa in the same caliber as Illinois, Indiana and Michigan State? Maybe. Their offense is very good.

This game is higher scoring then recent games and I can see it being close. Based soley on optimism and hope, I’m calling a Gopher win.

Minnesota - 76
Iowa - 72