No. 25 Minnesota women’s basketball takes to the road for the first time this season as it visits Xavier tonight.
• Sitting 1-0 on the season, Minnesota enters Wednesday night’s game ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll. It’s the first time the Golden Gophers have been ranked since Jan. 19, 2015, when they were No. 21, and it’s just the fourth time overall since the 2005-06 season. Head coach Lindsay Whalen is now the 39th person in women’s basketball history to be ranked as both a player and a coach and the 12th do it at the same school. The Golden Gophers were ranked for the last eight weeks of Whalen’s sophomore season as well her entire junior and senior years.
• Minnesota opened the 2018-19 season with a 70-47 win over New Hampshire on Nov. 9. The announced sellout crowd of 14,625 was a program record, surpassing the previous high of 14,363 set during Whalen’s senior season in 2004. Four of the top five marks in team history, and eight of the top 10, have now occurred with Whalen as either a player or coach.
• A career-high 21 points from senior Annalese Lamke and a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds from junior Taiye Bello complemented a strong defensive effort as Minnesota captured an 70-47 win over New Hampshire in Whalen’s head coaching debut last Friday. Minnesota has now won 10 straight season openers and 17 of its last 18 such games. The team has also prevailed in 19 straight home openers.
• Minnesota has won five straight road openers and is 18-27 in such games dating back to 1973-74.
• The Golden Gophers are looking to start 2-0 for the seventh straight season. A win Wednesday would also make Whalen the fifth coach in Gophers’ history to win her first two games. The record belongs to Pam Borton, who won her first 12 games during the 2002-03 season, Whalen’s junior season.