Can the Gophers take down the #2 team in the country on the road?
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East Lafayette
7:30 PM
BTN
Purdue
#2 Purdue Boilermakers
Record: 22-2 (11-2)
KenPom Rank: 2
The Gophers get to face the class of the Big Ten with the likely national player of the year in college basketball. Should be fun, right? The real question is, can the Gophers get a massive upset win?
KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN
No Payne foul trouble – The last time these teams faced each other, the Gopher interior (mostly Pharrel Payne) did a nice job of limiting Zach Edey’s touches and he had just 12 points and 6 rebounds. In his last 40 games, he has been held to 12 or less only one other time. I like Payne matching up here, but he has to stay on the court.
Limit their shooters – The Boilermakers are 5th in the country in 3pt%. The Gophers have a chance to hang in this game if Payne is able to limit Edey while the Gopher guards can stick on Brade Smith and Fletcher Loyer on the perimeter.
Play free but with a purpose – Have fun, play without fear of making mistakes but that doesn’t mean they should play carelessly. Take good shots, play with somepassion and see what happens.
PREDICTION
I’m not kidding when I say that I think we matchup well with Purdue, at least we matchup better than a lot of teams in the Big Ten. But still, this team is likely a Final Four team with a chance to win it all. The Gophers aren’t going into East Lafayette and stealing a win.
Keeping it close would be nice, just can’t have a really bad loss. I’m far more concerned with the 7 remaining games after this one.
Minnesota – 68
Purdue – 79