GAME INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, February 21, 2019
Time: 6:00 p.m. CT
Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
Arena: Williams Arena (14,625)
SERIES INFORMATION
Series: 149th Meeting (60-88)*
Series (Home): 70th Meeting (39-30)*
Current Streak: L-3
Richard Pitino vs. Michigan: 1-8
Minnesota vs. Big Ten: 757-830*
Richard Pitino vs. Big Ten: 40-68
* – excludes vacated games
STARTING FIVE
• The Gophers welcome seventh-ranked Michigan in their second to last home game of the season. The Wolverines edged the Maroon and Gold, 59-57, a month ago in Ann Arbor on a last-second shot.
• Senior forward Jordan Murphy was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday. He is second in Big Ten play in rebounding, pulling down 11.0 boards per game, and leads in overall rebounding with 11.9 rebounds per game on the season, third in the nation. His 1,219 career rebounds ranks second in Big Ten Conference history Murphy became the ninth player in Big Ten history with 1,600+ points and 1,000+ career rebounds.
• Center Daniel Oturu leads all Big Ten freshmen players in rebounding (7.0 rpg), field goal percentage (56.5 percent) and blocks (1.6 bpg). He is eighth in scoring at 10.8 points per game, trailed closely by fellow Gopher freshman Gabe Kalscheur (10.5 ppg).
• As of February 15, junior guard Amir Coffey is sixth in the Big Ten averaging 16.8 points per game in Big Ten contests. Coffey has reached double figures in all but three Big Ten games, including a career-high 32 points against Nebraska in December. Coffey crossed the 1,000-point mark on Feb. 3 at Purdue, becoming the 10th player in program history to do so during their junior season.
• Senior guard Dupree McBrayer now ranks eighth all-time at Minnesota in career assists (304), and tied for 13th with 117 career three‐pointers made. He is 12th in three-pointers attempted (355). McBrayer became the 44th Gopher player to reach the 1,000-point mark in his career on Feb. 9 at Michigan State. Teammate Brock Stull is just one point away from 1,000 career points between his time at Milwaukee and Minnesota.
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
• Michigan has won three of its last four and currently sits tied atop the Big Ten conference standings at 12-3. Most recently, the Wolverines avenged a 75-69 loss at Penn State with a 65-52 win over Maryland at home Saturday.
• The Wolverines are ranked seventh in both major polls and eighth in the NCAA’s NET, as of Feb. 20.
• Freshman Ignas Brazdeikis continues to lead the Wolverine offense, averaging 14.5 points per game which is second among Big Ten freshmen. He is one of three double-digit scorers, joining Charles Matthews (13.2 ppg) and Jordan Poole (12.8 ppg).
• Michigan leads the nation with the fewest turnovers per game (9.3) and is third in scoring defense, allowing 57.6 points per game.
PITINO TALKS
MNN Sports Director Mike Grimm sat down with Gopher head coach Richard Pitino to discuss this game:
UP NEXT
• The Gophers begin a stretch of three of the final four games away from home, traveling to Rutgers Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)