Michigan Wolverines Basketball: Minnesota Preview
After suffering its first loss of the season, Michigan looks to get back on track Tuesday night against Minnesota.
The Wolverines will face off with the Golden Gophers with the game tipping off at 7 p.m. The game can be seen on BTN and Kevin Kugler and Robbie Hummel are on the call. The Wolverines have won the last five against the Gophers at Crisler Center and Michgian head coach John Beilein is 16-4 against Minnesota.
The Gophers come into Tuesday 14-4 and 4-3 in the Big Ten conference. In its last game, Minnesota beat Penn State 65-64 on Saturday. Minnesota’s four losses so far this season came at the hands of Boston College, Ohio State, Maryland and Illinois.
Minnesota is one of the best teams in the country at drawing fouls as its free throws attempted per field goals attempted ratio of 46.7 is the seventh best in the country. The Gophers are also strong on the offensive board, with an offensive rebounding percentage of 35.0 percent, which is 24th in the country.
However, Minnesota struggles to shoot the ball and its effective field goal percentage of 48.7 is 249th in the nation. From three, the Gophers are only shooting 31.5 percent.
Minnesota is led by junior forward Amir Coffey who is scoring 15.7 points per game and is averaging 3.0 rebounds and assists per game. Coffey is adept at drawing fouls as his foul rate of 57.0 is the 100th best in college basketball.
Senior forward Jordan Murphy is averaging a double-double for the Gophers, posting 14.6 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. Murphy’s defensive rebounding percentage of 33.3 percent is the best in college basketball and his free throw rate of 86.8 is the seventh best.
Freshman forward Daniel Oturu is also a strong rebounder for the Badgers. His defensive rebounding percentage of 14.5 is the 30th best in the country and his offensive rebounding percentage of 21.1 is the 199th best. He’s also a disruptive defender as his block percentage of 7.8 percent is the 74the best in the nation.
Sophomore guard Isiah Washington has the ninth-best assist rate in the nation at 39.5 and senior guard Dupree McBrayer is averaging 10.7 points per game. He is second on the team with 26 three-pointers so far this season and is shooting 32.9 percent from three. Freshman guard Gabe Kalscheur has made 37 three-pointers, the most on the team, and also leads the Gophers shooting 37.8 percent from deep.
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