The Gophers open the season with Oral Roberts, here are your keys to the game and how to watch
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The Barn
7:00 PM
BTN+
Oral Roberts
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to watch this game unless you subscribe to BTN+. But we can preview the game and give you an idea of what to expect as the Gophers tip off the season with Oral Roberts tonight.
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles
Record: 0-0
KenPom Rank: 245
You may recall that in recent years, Oral Roberts was a dangerous non-conference team. But this is not that version. Paul Mills built up ORU to be a very good mid-major who made the NCAA Tournament 2 out of 3 seasons, including a 30-5 season in 2022-23. But will see Mills later this season when we face Wichita State as he moved to the Shockers in the spring of 2023.
The Golden Eagles are now led by Russell Springman, who is heading into his second season in Tulsa. They finished 5-11 in the Summit last year and are looking to improve with their leading scorer returning.
Only 2 starters return for the Golden Eagles, but the guy at the top is a good one. They have some interesting transfers, but we won’t know much about this team until we see them in action Wednesday night.
KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN
Defend Isaac McBride – The senior guard is the Summit League preseason player of the year and averaged 19.8 points per game last season. If anybody is going to carry ORU to an upset, it’ll be McBride.
Find open shooters – I like the prospects that this Gopher team will be able to make threes. But they need to be able to move the ball and hit open looks. Nobody on this team is good enough to force it, it’ll take ball movement and working together.
Keep turnovers down – This was a problem last year and one that I’d like to see reversed.
PREDICTION
The loss of Frank Mitchell for the Gophuers is a significant loss to our thin frontcourt, but if the defense can manage to limit McBride, Minnesota should be OK.
These games are never as easy as they should be, especially game one. But I belive the Gophers start the season 1-0.
Minnesota – 79
Oral Roberts – 67