GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Time: 8:00 p.m. CT
Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
SERIES INFORMATION
Series: 163rd Meeting (95-67)*
Series (Home): 78th Meeting (56-21)*
Current Streak: W-1
Richard Pitino vs. Northwestern: 2-4
Minnesota vs. Big Ten: 749-813*
Richard Pitino vs. Big Ten: 32-51
* – excludes vacated games
STARTING FIVE
• The Minnesota men’s basketball team returns to the Barn on Tuesday to host Northwestern, splitting up a stretch of five of six away from home. Tuesday’s game is the only home contest for the Gophers in a 23-day stretch.
• Sophomore guard Amir Coffey returned to the active lineup on Saturday against Ohio State. Coffey had missed five games with a right shoulder injury, but started against the Buckeyes and totaled 11 points, three rebounds and two assists in 35 minutes of action.
• Minnesota is meeting Northwestern for the second time, after falling 83-60 on Jan. 10 in Rosemont, Ill. The Wildcats are the first team that the Gophers are playing twice this year, and during this 5-of-6 road stretch, Tuesday’s game is one of only two home-and-away opponents during the course of this season’s schedule.
• Steadily climbing up the career charts, junior Jordan Murphy recently crossed the 1,000-point mark and entered Minnesota top-10 list for rebounds. Murphy has pulled down 809 boards in his two and a half years in Maroon and Gold, where he now sits seventh behind Ron Johnson (820). Murphy is leading the team averaging 17.9 points and 11.8 rebounds per game – the latter statistic atop the Big Ten and third in the nation as well. He also ranks fourth in the country in offensive rebounds (4.4) per game, as of Jan. 22. His 17 double-doubles to start the year matched the most since Tim Duncan had 17 at Wake Forest to begin the 1996-97 season. Murphy leads the country with 19 double-doubles.
• Both Murphy and senior Nate Mason are also moving up the career scoring charts. Mason has moved into eighth place with 1,537 points (7th: Quincy Lewis – 1,614) while Murphy ranks 30th, scoring 1,138 points (29th: Rodney Williams – 1,145). Mason crossed the 1,500-point mark last Monday at Penn State.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• Northwestern had dropped its two games following the meeting with the Gophers, before rebounding with a 70-61 home win over Penn State on Saturday to improve to 3-5 in conference play.
• The Wildcats have amassed an 10-3 record at Allstate Arena this season, their temporary home court while Welsh-Ryan Arena undergoes a full renovation on the Evanston campus. NU is just 1-5 in road games this year, including an 0-3 mark in Big Ten away affairs.
• Scottie Lindsey leads a quartet of NU double-digit scorers, with the senior averaging 13.9 points per game.
• Bryant McIntosh is second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) but leads the team and is second in the Big Ten Conference with 5.7 assists per game.
• Northwestern is the Big Ten’s best free-throw shooting squad, connecting on 75.1 percent of its attempts from the stripe.
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)