Indiana hits the street Wednesday night to tackle Minnesota at Williams Enviornment. The Golden Gophers are 18-11 general and 9-9 within the Massive Ten. The Hoosiers received the primary matchup 74-62 in Bloomington on Jan. 12.
Wednesday’s recreation is about for a 9 p.m. ET tip on BTN:
Indiana enters Wednesday’s recreation at Minnesota on a two-game profitable streak, its first since December.
The Hoosiers beat Wisconsin at residence final Tuesday earlier than erasing a 16-point second-half deficit at Maryland on Sunday to finish the season sweep of the Terrapins.
Indiana will now attempt for a season sweep of the Golden Gophers, who’ve received 5 straight video games at residence. A victory for Minnesota would clinch at the very least a .500 file in Massive Ten play, a major feat for Ben Johnson, who entered the season on the recent seat.
THE FIRST MATCHUP
Indiana got here out sizzling within the first assembly between the 2 groups in Bloomington. The Hoosiers led 11-2 early and led by as many as 21 factors within the second half earlier than settling for a snug 12-point victory.
Minnesota shot a dreadful 3-for-20 on 3s because the Hoosiers saved strain on its guards all recreation.
It was, on the time, freshman Mackenzie Mgbako’s finest efficiency to this point in an IU uniform. The freshman from Gladstone, New Jersey, was extra aggressive than standard in attacking the rim. Mgbako tried seven free throws within the win and related on 5.
Mgbako’s 19 factors have been a team-high and he logged 34 minutes, a career-high on the time. Mgbako’s protection was stable sufficient that Mike Woodson felt snug giving him an prolonged run, which was completely different in earlier video games.
With the duo of Gabe Cupps and Xavier Johnson struggling, Trey Galloway put collectively a stellar all-around efficiency.
Cupps and Johnson scored solely two factors and had a complete of two assists in 47 minutes, which put strain on Galloway to carry out. And he did.
Galloway had a team-high seven assists, shot 4-for-5 from the sector and had 4 steals. He completed with 10 factors in 25 minutes.
A number of of Minnesota’s high gamers – Elijah Hawkins, Cam Christie and Mike Mitchell – had video games to neglect. Hawkins shot a dismal 2-for-12 from the sector in 36 minutes. Christie was simply 2-for-10 from the sector. And Mitchell, a switch from Pepperdine, shot 0-for-6 and went scoreless in 20 minutes.
TEMPO-FREE PREVIEW
All stats within the graphic under are through KenPom.com, are up to date by Monday’s video games and are for convention video games solely.
The Gophers have received six of their final 10 video games and 5 of these victories have come at Williams Enviornment. The house wins in that stretch for Minnesota: Northwestern, Michigan State, Rutgers, Ohio State and Penn State by a median of seven.4 factors. In 4 of the 5 video games, Minnesota scored at the very least 75 factors.
Minnesota takes – and makes – a whole lot of 3-pointers. The Gophers rank second within the Massive Ten in 3PA/FGA at 38.7 p.c and fourth within the convention in level distribution from 3s at 31.2 p.c. Minnesota is taking pictures 35.6 p.c from distance in convention play, the sixth finest mark within the league.
Two different strengths for Minnesota are its offensive rebounding and talent to get to the foul line. The Gophers rank fifth within the Massive Ten in offensive rebounding share and third in free throw price (FTA/FGA). Minnesota does wrestle to transform on the line with only a 69.1 p.c mark in Massive Ten play.
Defensively, the Gophers rank simply twelfth within the Massive Ten in defensive rebounding share (32.1) and tenth in opponent free throw price at 36 p.c. The Hoosiers received to the road and transformed at Maryland and can want to take action once more on Wednesday night time to emerge victorious.
WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO
The KenPom projection is Minnesota by six with a 29 p.c probability of a Hoosier victory.
The Golden Gophers are the one Massive Ten program who haven’t crushed Indiana beneath Mike Woodson, though one among IU’s 4 wins got here with Yasir Rosemond on the sidelines.
Minnesota has misplaced three residence video games – Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin – however have been an ideal 4-0 at Williams Enviornment final month and began out March with a 75-70 win in opposition to Penn State on Saturday.
The Hoosiers are going to want one other robust effort out of Xavier Johnson, who performed effectively at Maryland, to seek out success once more on the street. And Mgbako, who performed effectively within the first matchup in opposition to Minnesota and is coming off his finest recreation of the season, might want to once more win his matchup and rating effectively.
With the NCAA match an extended shot, Indiana is enjoying for Massive Ten match seeding and in addition attempting to keep away from a sub .500 Massive Ten file for the second time in three seasons beneath Woodson.
(Photograph credit score: IU Athletics)
Filed to: Minnesota Golden Gophers
