Gopher Basketball
| Game Info | |
| Opponent: | Ohio State Buckeyes |
| When: | 2 pm, February 4th, 2006 |
| Where: | Value City Arena ““ Columbus, OH |
| Television: | KSTC Ch. 45 |
Fresh off their biggest (ok, only) victory in conference play, Minnesota’s heads to Columbus on Saturday looking to knock off their second ranked opponent of the week. The Buckeyes are off to a solid 4-3 start to conference play following their undefeated nonconference campaign, and you can be sure they now have a little more respect for the Gophers than they did a week ago.
The bad news is that Ohio State is a very experienced and talented team. The good news is that they’re also fairly similar to the Indiana team Minnesota dominated on Sunday. They have a horse on the inside (6’9″, 260-lb senior Terence Dials), they have a boatload of guys shooting better than 40% from 3-point range (5 of their top 8 scorers), and they have a lot of interchangeable athletes.
Guards Je’Kel Foster, J.J. Sullinger, and Jamar Butler average 14, 10, and 8 points, respectively, and Foster and Sullinger are capable of taking over a game at any moment. Gopher fans are quite familiar with 6’7″ senior Matt Sylvester (8 ppg), who has hurt Minnesota in the past. And 6’3″ junior Ron Lewis (13 ppg) is also a very dangerous player.
Here are my Gopher Keys of the Game:
1. See if it’s broke. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And Minnesota’s defense against Indiana’s Marco Killingsworth definitely wasn’t broke. Zach Puchtel did an outstanding job against him, and J’son Stamper and others were very effective with double teams. Ohio State has of course studied the film of that game extensively, but there’s no reason Minnesota shouldn’t start with the same line-up and strategy that got them their victory.
2. 3 for all. Indiana had very impressive 3-point shooting numbers coming into the game, but the Gophers shut them down by rotating better than I’ve seen all season. Ohio State has just as many shooters and just as good of a big man inside drawing double-teams, so the Gophers are going to have to defend like that again.
3. Absolutely nothing to lose. At 1-6 and 10-8 overall, Minnesota really has no shot at the NCAA Tournament other than by winning the Big 10 Tourney. So this isn’t a do-or-die game; it’s just a do game. The Gophers might as well just go out and have fun like they did on Sunday and see what happens.
Minnesota’s performance on Sunday was a sight for sore eyes, but it definitely wasn’t enough for me to suggest that a 1-6 team will win at a Top 20 program like Ohio State. Michigan State is the only team to knock them off in Value City Arena, and that was only by 3 points. So the Gophers are going to have to play even better than last weekend to get a victory in this one. My prediction: Ohio State 76 Minnesota 62.
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