Minnesota Basketball: Three keys to beating Arkansas-Pine Bluff and how to watch

It is the Golden Gophers and the Golden Lions at The Barn.

The Barn

7:00 PM

BTN

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Mascot: Golden Lions
Record: 3-8
KenPom Rank: 354

One of the worst teams in college basketball is coming to the Barn. The Golden Lions have 3 wins, all against non-D1 teams and currently have a KenPom rank of 354 out of 363 teams. This should be a Gopher win, but what will it take?

KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN

Offensive execution - The offense has not had any rhythm or flow yet this season. This game is the first of 3, non-conference opponents where the Gophers can start to figure things out. Start executing the offense.

Defensive rebounding - Kind of similar to the first key, just work on doing this better.

Jamison Battle time - Get Battle going, find him in the right spots and let him have a game to get some confidence going.

PREDICTION

This will be closer than it should be. Despite my confidence that this will be a in, the Golden Lions did nearly take down TCU and Oklahoma early in the season. They held a lead at TCU with under 3 min to go and lost by 1. So the notion that a loss is impossible should be eradicated from our brains. But it is unlikely.

Execute, gain some confidence and move on to finals.

Minnesota - 73
Arkansas-Pine Bluff - 65