Can the Gophers get a win on Senior Day?
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The Barn
2:15 PM
BTN
Penn State
Penn State Nittany Lions
Record: 14-15 (8-10)
KenPom Rank: 93
The Gophers snapped a 4-game losing streak in January with a win at Penn State. Now the Nittany Lions come to The Barn trying to steal a win in Minnesota.
The good news for the Gophers is that they were able to beat Penn State without Pharrel Payne participating. They will be at full strength today, with Payne playing great over the last few weeks.
So…can the Gophers sweep the Nittany LIons?
KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN
Pound the paint – Like I said, Payne didn’t play in this first matchup and he’s been playing great down the stretch, I’d love to see a focus on getting the ball inside and letting the big man work along with Dawson Garcia.
Inside-out on offense – After we pound the ball inside, looking for those kickouts for open threes. Cam Christie scored 17 points in the first game but was 1/5 from three, while the team was just 4/14. Work it in, then hit some open threes.
Don’t turn the ball over – PSU is pretty good at forcing turnovers where they are the 2nd best team in the Big Ten at forcing turnovers. The rest of their defensive stats are not impressive, so scoring could come easy if we don’t give away possessions.
PREDICTION
I am confident in today’s game for Minnesota. Penn State struggles to stop field goals inside the three point line and they tend to put teams on the foul line a lot. They are 2-7 on the road in the Big Ten and I expect they will finish 2-8.
This is a key battle for Big Ten Tournament seeding and I’m feeling good about a Gopher win where we score a lot of points again.
Minnesota – 79
Penn State – 67