GAME INFORMATION
The University of Minnesota tips off its 124th season of men’s basketball on Wednesday night, hosting Green Bay in the second matchup between the two schools.
Williams Arena, Tip Time: 6 p.m. CT
SERIES INFORMATION
Series: Second Meeting (1-0)
Date: 11/24/84, W 75-71
Current Streak: Gopher won one in a row
Minnesota vs. Horizon League: 19-3
Richard Pitino vs. Horizon League: 1-1
STARTING FIVE
• The University of Minnesota tips off its 124th season of men’s basketball on Wednesday night, hosting Green Bay in the second-ever matchup between the two schools.
• Minnesota welcomes six newcomers to the court this season. Among the group is three transfers: Both Gach, Brandon Johnson, and Liam Robbins. Three are true freshmen: Jamal Mashburn, Jr., Martice Mitchell, David Mutaf.
• Minnesota redshirt junior Marcus Carr has was named to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team. Carr is the first Gopher to make the preseason team since Jordan Murphy in 2018-19 and the first Minnesota guard since Amir Coffey and Nate Mason were both chosen in 2017-18. An All-Big Ten Third Team selection last year, Carr set school records with 207 assists, including 130 during conference action. He finished the year second in the conference and ninth nationally with 6.7 assists per game, and tied for second with an assist/turnover ratio of 2.5.
• A pair of Gophers earned spots on preseason watch lists in redshirt junior Marcus Carr and junior Liam Robbins. Carr was named to the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy list. He is one of 50 players on list, including one of eight from the Big Ten. Robbins was named to the preseason watch list for the 2020 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. After spending his first two seasons at Drake, Robbins transferred to Minnesota in April and was granted immediate eligibility in September. Last year, he averaged team highs of 14.1 points and 7.1 rebounds along with 2.9 blocks per game, starting all 34 games for Drake and earning All-Missouri Valley Conference Second Team, All-Defensive Team and MVC Most Improved honors.
• Junior transfer guard Both Gach was granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA after spending two seasons at Utah. Gach is coming off a standout sophomore season with the Utes, in which he ranked second on the team scoring 10.7 points per game while adding 3.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per outing.
SCOUTING THE PHOENIX
• Wednesday’s game marks the first for new Green Bay head coach Will Ryan, who was hired this offseason after spending a year at Wheeling University. He became the program’s eighth head coach in school history.
• Green Bay has seven freshmen and two redshirt freshmen on this year’s squad. The Phoenix also lost last year’s leading scorer, JayQuan McCloud, who averaged 17.1 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game and 4.5 assists per game.
• Sophomore Amari Davis was named to the Preseason All-Horizon First Team League. Davis was the first player in program history to collect the honor of Horizon League Freshman of the Year. He also earned an all-league third team nod after averaging 15.9 PPG and 4.0 RPG. Davis appeared in all 33 games for the Phoenix while starting 27 and broke the program’s all-time freshman scoring record, passing Tony Bennett and finishing with 524 points on the season.
• Green Bay was picked to finish eighth in the preseason Horizon League poll, while Wright State was favored to repeat as conference champions for the third-consecutive season.
GOPHERS VS. THE HORIZON
• Minnesota has a 19-3 record against the current membership of the Horizon League.
• The Gophers have defeated Cleveland State, Green Bay and Valparaiso in their lone meetings, won four times against Youngstown State, and gone 11-2 against Detroit while splitting a pair of games against Milwaukee.
• It marks the second-straight season Minnesota has faced a Horizon League opponent. Prior to that, the last time was Dec. 23, 2015 to Milwaukee.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
• Minnesota announced their three captains for 2020-21 is redshirt junior Marcus Carr, junior Gabe Kalscheur and redshirt senior Eric Curry. The trio was chosen based on player voting.
• It marks the second time Carr has been named a captain and first for Kalscheur and Curry.
GABE GABS
Gopher junior guard Gabe Kalscheur spoke with MNN sports director Mike Grimm about tonight’s game:
