GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Time: 6:00 p.m. CT
Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
Arena: Williams Arena (14,625)
SERIES INFORMATION
Series: 10th Meeting (2-7)
Series (Home): Fifth Meeting (1-3)
Current Streak: L-1
Richard Pitino vs. Maryland: 2-3
STARTING FIVE
• The Minnesota men’s basketball team will look to make it three straight Big Ten wins as they host Maryland on Tuesday night, the first of a two-game homestand this week at the Barn.
• Three games into the conference season, junior guard Amir Coffey is leading the Big Ten averaging 24.0 points per game. Coffey has reached double figures in each of the Gophers three Big Ten games, including a career-high 32 points against Nebraska. He led the team last week at Wisconsin with a game-high 21 points.
• Redshirt sophomore forward Eric Curry made his return to the lineup on Dec. 30 in the win over Mount St. Mary’s. Curry, who missed all of last season and the first 12 games of this year with a knee injury, has averaged 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 points and 1.0 assists per game in 19.5 minutes per game of action since coming back into the lineup.
• On Dec. 21 with the win over N.C. A&T, head coach Richard Pitino earned his 100th victory at the helm of Gopher basketball. He became just the ninth coach in program history to reach the mark. Pitino is the youngest Power Five coach with 100+ wins at one school, and the third youngest in the nation with 100 wins at one school.
• Senior forward Jordan Murphy became the 11th player in Big Ten history with 1,400+ points and 1,000+ career rebounds. Additionally, Murphy broke Jim Brewer’s 45-year old school record when he scored 18 points and 13 rebounds against Nebraska for his 52nd career double-double. Murphy is second in the nation in rebounding (12.5) and is eighth in double-doubles (nine) this season, as of Jan. 7. Murphy needs just nine points to become the ninth Gopher with 1,500+ career points.
SCOUTING THE TERRAPINS
• Maryland has won three straight contests including Big Ten wins over Nebraska and, most recently, at Rutgers on Saturday.
• Tuesday’s game is just the fourth true road game for the Terps, who have gone 2-1 on the road this season.
• Anthony Cowan and Bruno Fernando lead the Maryland offense, averaging 16.5 and 14.5 points per game, respectively. Fernando averages a double-double adding 10.1 rebounds per contest.
• Fernando is also leading the Big Ten in blocked shots, with 2.4 rejections per game.
MADISON MAGIC
• On Jan. 3, the Gophers took the lead over Wisconsin six minutes into the game and never relinquished it, earning a 59-52 victory over the No. 22 Badgers.
• It marked the Gophers’ first win over their rival since 2014 and first at the Kohl Center since 2009. That includes streaks of eight and seven games, respectively, prior to the win.
• Excluding the vacated 109-78 win in 1994, the seven-point victory was the largest winning margin for the Gophers in Madison since a 78-57 win at the UW Field House on Jan. 21, 1982.
UP NEXT
• The Gophers wrap up the homestand on Saturday morning, hosting Rutgers in an 11:30 a.m. affair at Williams Arena.
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)