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The Barn
5:00 PM
ESPN2
Indiana
The final regular season home game and the last time that a number of Gophers will be playing on the Williams Arena floor. Their opponent, the Indiana Hoosiers who have lost 5 of their last 6 and are squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Indiana
Mascot: Hoosiers
Record: 17-10
KenPom Rank: 46
In the first meeting between these teams the Hoosiers had 5 players score between 10-14 points. So it was a balanced and complete effort to get the 13-point win. Can the Gophers reverse the outcome and send the massive senior class away from The Barn with a win?
KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN
No turnovers - This is typically a strength of Minnesota’s and in the first matchup, we did a great job of not turning the ball over. This is a key, not because it needs to be different from last time but rather this needs to happen again, as it did before. There have been a few games where turnovers became a problem and we were spanked in most of those.
Make threes - In the game at Assembly Hall we shot just 20% from three (5/25). Loewe was 0/4, Willis was 2/8, Stephens was 0/3; that cannot happen again. It was our worst 3 point shooting of the season. Make some threes and this game remains interesting.
Find some interior defense - Trace Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson are a couple of really good front-court players. They are not a great matchup for us, so the Gophers have to find a way to slow them down and rebound.
PREDICTION
Perhaps the biggest weakness of this Gopher team is their interior. Getting production defensively, rebounding and lately scoring from their frontcourt has been a real challenge. It is one thing when you go up against a Kofi Cockburn or a Keegan Murray. But teams with 2 quality big men are worse for us (see Tyler Wahl and Steven Crowl).
I don’t foresee the Gophers mitigating this weakness this afternoon and unless we shoot extremely well from three, I don’t see a win today.
Minnesota - 66
Indiana - 68