Minnesota (15-8) @ #14 Wisconsin (20-4) 2:00 EST
The early Big Ten match-up on Saturday has the Minnesota Golden Gophers traveling to Madison to play the Wisconsin Badgers. March madness is closing in as the Badgers have their eye on the Big Ten championship and the Golden Gophers look to put together some quality wins to solidify themselves a spot come tournament time. Wisconsin is currently 10-2 in conference play and stands 1 game behind Purdue. Wisconsin's only 2 conference losses have come against Purdue so they need help to win the Big Ten conference. Minnesota is 5-6 in conference standings and would love to spoil any chance that Wisconsin has of winning the Big Ten. Wisconsin is coming off of a big conference win @ Indiana while Minnesota is coming off of a 24 point loss at home versus Illinois.
The Badgers
Wisconsin is 13-2 at home this year, but just 4-7 ATS at home and 8-9 ATS when favored. The Badgers are 46-4 at home the last 3 years. Purdue and Marquette are the only teams to hand Wisconsin a loss at home this year. The Badgers were favored in both of those games and lost each one by 5 points. This is their first game at home since losing as 10 point favorites to Big Ten leader Purdue. They shot a season worst 32.7% and were careless with the ball, turning it over 18 times. Wisconsin is 8-2 SU their last 10 games and 4-6 ATS during that same span which includes a 63-47 win over Minnesota 2 weeks ago. Wisconsin has won by double digits in 16 of their 20 games.
The Golden Gophers
Minnesota is 4-4 on the road this year and 5-3 ATS. As an underdog they are just 2-6 ATS this year. The Gophers are just 7-23 on the road over the last 3 years. Minnesota is coming off of a season worst 33.3% shooting performance in a blowout loss at home. Minnesota has been favored in their last 2 road games against Michigan and Northwestern, both of which they won by double digits and shot better than 55%. On the downside they turned the ball over 17 times in one contest and 15 in the other. After starting 10-3 the Golden Gophers are just 5-5 SU and 5-5 ATS in their last 10 games including 3 double digit losses. Minnesota has lost by double digits 5 times out of their 8 losses.
The Shooters
The Badgers have 3 players that average double digits in scoring. Brian Butch both averages 12.7 ppg while Trevon Hughes is not far behind at 12.5 ppg. Marcus Landry is 3rd on the team averaging 10.9 ppg, Michael Flowers is close to the double digit plateau at 9.6 ppg. Joe Krabbenhoft and Jason Bohannon both also average greater than 7 ppg. Krabbenhoft leads the team in assists with 2.8 per game and Trevon Hughes is 2nd with 2.7 per game.
The Golden Gophers have 3 players that average double digit scoring led by Dan Coleman with 13.1 ppg. Lawrence McKenzie is 2nd with 10.9 ppg and 2nd in assists at 4.3 assists per game. Spencer Tollackson is not far behind with 10.8 ppg. Blake Hoffarber is just outside of the double digit mark at 9.3 ppg. Lawrence Westbrook averages 7.7 ppg and Damien Johnson averages 7.3 ppg. Al Nolen leads the team with 3.6 assists per game while chipping in 4.8 ppg.
Offensive Statistics
The Golden Gophers put up 72.3 ppg while the Badgers average 68.8 ppg. Both teams average 45.5% from the floor while Minnesota has the edge in 3 point shooting 37.4% compared to the 34.7% by Wisconsin. Wisconsin shoots 69.8% from the charity stripe while Minnesota shoots 67.5%. Minnesota averages 17 assists, 18 fouls, and 14 turnovers per game. Wisconsin averages 13 assists, 14 fouls, and 14 turnovers per game.
Defensive Statistics
The Badgers play stout defense while only giving up 55.3 ppg and holding opponents to a rough 38.9% from the floor and 31.5% from downtown. Minnesota allows 63.8 ppg while opponents shoot 43.5% from the floor and 34.3% from downtown against them. Wisconsin averages 37 rebounds per game with 11 of them being offensive. Brian Butch, the teams leading scorer, also leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per game while Krabbenhoft is 2nd with 6.8 rpg. Minnesota averages 34 rebounds per game with 11 of them coming on the offensive end. Dan Coleman, Minnesota's leading scorer, also lead the team with 6.3 rebounds per game with Damien Johnson chipping in 4.7 per game. The Golden Gophers average 10 steals per game while the Badgers average 7 per game.
Last Meeting
February 3rd, 2008
Wisconsin traveled to Minnesota to play the Golden Gophers 3 days after picking up a key 13 point win against Indiana. Minnesota was coming off of a 12 point win at Michigan, a game that broke a 3 game skid. Wisconsin was favored by 1.5 points on the road and rolled to a 63-47 victory. The Badgers controlled the game from the start and went into the locker room at the half up 39-23. Trevon Hughes led the team with 20 points and 6 steals while Landry and Butch each chipped in 11 points. Krabbenhoft dished out 5 assists while Flowers cleaned up 8 rebounds. Westbrook led the Gophers in scoring with 11 points while Johnson had 10 points and 5 blocks. Nolen led the Gophers team in rebounds while collecting 9 for the game. Minnesota would get no closer than 14 points down during the 2nd half. The Badgers shot 48.9% (22-45) while the Gophers only shot 36% (18-50). Wisconsin shot 43.8% (7-16) from downtown while Minnesota shot 37.5% (3-8) from downtown. Wisconsin hit 12 out of 16 shots from the free throw line while Minnesota was a perfect 8 of 8. Minnesota never led in the game and the largest lead by the Badgers was 22. The Badgers commited 16 turnovers while the Gophers committed 18. The Gophers were outrebounded 28 to 25. Minnesota looks to break a five game losing streak when playing Wisconsin.
Currently the Badgers are favored by 10 points with the total set at 126.