Happy New Year, ladies and gentlemen. This evening, it's back to Big Ten conference play with the #20-ranked Purdue Boilermakers (9-4; 1-1) visiting Williams Arena in Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-5; 0-2). Tip is scheduled for approximately 8:00 pm (Eastern time) with television coverage on FOX Sports 1 Network (FS1). This will be the only regular season match-up for the schools this season. Purdue won the single match-up last season, 86-74 at home.
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Projected Starting Line-ups:
Purdue - Trey Kaufman-Renn, Camden Heide, Myles Colvin, Fletcher Loyer, and Braden Smith
Minnesota - Parker Fox, Dawson Garcia, Mike Mitchell Jr., LuCye Patterson, and Femi Odukale
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Both teams are coming off wins last Sunday entering this contest. Purdue defeated Toledo, 83-64, behind the strength of Braden Smith's 34 points and 12 assists, and Minnesota dispatched Morgan State at home, 90-68, led by Mike Mitchell Jr.'s 22 points. The Golden Gophers are looking for their first conference win, and this would be a good statement for them if they could pull the upset in a venue where Purdue has sometimes struggled.
Minnesota is led by 5th year senior Dawson Garcia, who started his career at Marquette with a stop at North Carolina before settling in with his third season for Minnesota. He is one of the better players in the conference and has caused plenty of problems in past games against Purdue. He has scored 18 or more points in five consecutive games, including 22 against Indiana in Bloomington. He is averaging 19.1 PPG on 50% shooting. Along side Garcia, Mike Mitchell Jr. also poses a threat, scoring 15 or more in three of his past four games. The senior guard has posted an average of 13.3 PPG on 56% shooting. The other two starters that Minnesota looks for some scoring are Lu'Cye Patterson (9.7 PPG) and Femi Odukale (5.1 PPG and 4.2 RPG). Parker Fox is not leaned on heavily, and most of his work is inside the arc, although he has hit double figures a couple of times.
KenPom ratings have Minnesota at 109th (163rd offensively and 90th defensively). The Golden Gophers have one of the slowest pace of play ratings - 360th in adjusted tempo. Purdue is at 27th overal (11th offensively and 70th defensively). Adjusted tempo has them at 303rd in the ratings for pace. Minnesota is scoring an average of 67.9 points on the season and give up a 29th best 63.9 points.
Look for the Boilers on defense to focus on Garcia and Mitchell. Garcia is fourth in the conference with 19.1 points per game, and 11th with 7.4 rebounds. The fifth-year senior is shooting from deep at the second-best clip of his career, 36.7%, on a career-high 3.8 attempts a game. He has the highest true shooting percentage of his career. According to Matt Painter - "
It's not like one guy's gonna guard him. Do a good job keeping him off the glass, not letting him have an easy post-up, not letting him have a wide-open 3. He's gonna score some points, there's no doubt about that. Just make him earn it."
As for the difficulty with Mitchell and the supporting cast - "
He can make step-back 3s with people on him. Just can't let him have a couple step-in 3s. Limit his good looks, even though he'll make tough ones. With the other guys, you've gotta do your best with keeping them in front of you. Just can't let them live in the paint. I think it's gonna be important for us to contain the dribble and, as a team, keep the ball out of the paint. And then not allow second-chance opportunities."
A recurring theme for Purdue on defense. Again, Purdue has to find a way to limit Minnesota from damaging possessions in the paint or second chance opportunities off the offensive glass. As for the offense, the Boilers really need to execute, and they should be in good shape. However, if they get a little careless or lose focus and have some turnovers, that's where Minnesota could cause some issues. In addition, let's see if Colvin, Heide, Harris, Cox, and Furst can provide a little more scoring production.
The boilers have yet to prove they can be a solidly consistent executing team on the road....can they take a step toward that tonight? Any road win in the conference is a good win.....we shall see this evening.
Boiler up, my friends.
