Minnesota Golden Gophers
Big Ten (21-13, 9-11)
Minnesota has been all over the place this season. The Golden Gophers beat Washington back on November 21st and they lost their next game against Boston College. They beat a team like Wisconsin and a couple weeks later get crushed by Illinois. More recent Minnesota lost a game at Rutgers that could have destroyed their NCAA Tournament hopes. But a week later they beat Purdue on Senior Night and were right back in the mix.
Big Wins: 11/21 vs Washington (68-66), 1/3 at Wisconsin (59-52), 3/5 Purdue (73-69)
Bad Losses: 11/26 at Boston College (56-68), 1/16 at Illinois (68-95), 2/24 at Rutgers (64-68)
Coach: Richard Pitino
Why They Can Surprise:
When Minnesota is winning those big games, they are getting good games from Jordan Murphy and Amir Coffey. Murphy, a 6-7 senior, is a beast on the glass and a superb interior scorer. Murphy has not been quite as productive this year as many had hoped though. He is a double-double machine, but there have been some less than ideal outings lately. In the last two games of February, Murphy averaged just 7.5 points and 7.0 rebounds. That included the loss against Rutgers. Coffey, a big 6-8 junior guard, has been picking up the slack recently and he can be a dynamic scorer. In the huge victory over Purdue, Coffey scored 32 points and made 18 trips to the charity stripe.
Why They Can Disappoint:
The Golden Gophers are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country. While Coffey and Dupree McBrayer will make some three-pointers, Gabe Kalscheur is really the only actual outside threat. The freshman must make his shots in the NCAA Tournament. If not, the opposition will have a much easier time dropping back into the paint and containing Murphy down low and Coffey attacking the basket.
Probable Starters:
Dupree McBrayer, Senior, Guard, 9.1 ppg, 3.0 apg
Gabe Kalscheur, Freshman, Guard, 9.9 ppg
Amir Coffey, Junior, Guard, 16.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.2 apg
Jordan Murphy, Senior, Forward, 14.8 ppg, 11.5 rpg
Daniel Oturu, Freshman, Center, 10.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.4 rpg
Key Role Players:
Matz Stockman, Senior, Center, 3.0 ppg, 2.1 rpg
Brock Stull, Senior, Guard, 1.4 ppg
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 71.2 (220th in nation, 8th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 68.7 (107, 11)
Field-Goal Percentage: 43.6 (223, 8)
Field-Goal Defense: 43.2 (140, 11)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 5.4 (339, 14)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 32.4 (283, 10)
Free-Throw Percentage: 67.7 (278, 11)
Rebound Margin: 3.4 (77, 5)
Assists Per Game: 14.6 (81, 3)
Turnovers Per Game: 12.3 (100, 6)
Recent Postseason Appearances:
| 2017 | NCAA | Round of 64 loss to Middle Tennessee |
| 2014 | NIT | First Round win over High Point |
| 2014 | NIT | Second Round win over St. Mary's |
| 2014 | NIT | Quarterfinal win over Southern Mississippi |
| 2014 | NIT | Semifinal win Florida State |
| 2014 | NIT | Final win over SMU |
| 2013 | NCAA | Round of 64 win over UCLA |
| 2013 | NCAA | Round of 32 loss to Florida |
| 2012 | NIT | First Round win over LaSalle |
| 2012 | NIT | Second Round win over Miami |
| 2012 | NIT | Quarterfinal win over Middle Tennessee |
| 2012 | NIT | Semifinal win over Washington |
| 2012 | NIT | Final loss to Stanford |
| 2010 | NCAA | Round of 64 loss to Xavier |
| 2009 | NCAA | Round of 64 loss to Texas |
| 2008 | NIT | First Round loss to Maryland |
| 2006 | NIT | First Round win over Wake Forest |
| 2006 | NIT | Second Round loss to Cincinnati |
| 2005 | NCAA | Round of 64 loss to Iowa State |
*all team stats through 3/10
