The No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (9-0, 1-0) will take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-5, 0-1) early Sunday evening in Minneapolis.
The game will be the second Big Ten contest for both schools and will tip off at 6:30 pm on BTN. Ohio State comes into this game off of a 106-74 win over Penn State last Saturday. The Gophers, meanwhile, last played Monday night, losing at Iowa 72-52. OSU will be without shooting guard Duane Washington due to a rib injury.
Duane Washington Jr. of @ohiostatehoops (9-0) will not dress vs. Minnesota tonight in Minneapolis (6:30pm/BTN) with a rib injury. His status is day-to-day.
— Dan Wallenberg (@OSUADAthComm) December 15, 2019
Opening Tip
Who: No. 3 Ohio State at Minnesota
What: Men’s Basketball
Where: Minneapolis, MN — Williams Arena
When: Sunday 6:30 pm (BTN)
Why: Minnesota always deserves a measure of vengeance.
Line: Minnesota +8.5
The Buckeyes
Three-Point Territory
+ Ohio State has not played at Williams Arena in Minneapolis since Jan. 8, 2017, a span of nearly three years (2 years, 11 months, 8 days). The Buckeyes have played just once in Minneapolis since Jan. 6, 2015 (4 years, 11 months, 10 days). The Buckeyes fell in the most recent trip Williams Arena, 78-68, after winning the 2015 game at The Barn, 74-72 (1/6/15). In his three years as head coach of the Buckeyes, Chris Holtmann will be making his first trip to Minneapolis. The only other Big Ten venue the Buckeyes have not visited since Holtmann took over in 2017-18 is Illinois. Ohio State played a neutral-site game vs. the Illini a season ago in Chicago (United Center) after playing Minnesota on a neutral court (Madison Square Garden) in 2018 in New York.
+ Ohio State junior Kaleb Wesson is close to entering both the 1,000 career point and 500 career rebound club with 933 points and 468 boards. Wesson would become the 29th Buckeye all-time with both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career.
+ The 9-0 start for the Buckeyes is the best for Ohio State since the 2013-14 season when Ohio State opened the season 15-0. The Buckeyes eclipsed the 100-point mark in a Big Ten game for the first time since a 104-69 victory over Penn State Jan. 5, 2006. The game vs. Penn State was the 200th home game for the Buckeyes since the 2009-10 season. Ohio State is 170-30 in those games (.850). The 170 home wins are the second most nationally since 2009-10. Ohio State is 76-1 in games in which it scores 100 or more points. The Buckeyes are 57-0 at home, 16-1 away and 3-0 on neutral courts.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers
What You Need To Know
+ Ohio State leads the all-time series with the Golden Gophers 87-57. Ohio State owns a 53-18 record in Columbus and is 39-31 in Minneapolis. The teams have played on a neutral court three times with the Buckeyes winning them all. When ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, Ohio State is 30-4 vs. the Gophers. When ranked in the Top 10, Ohio State is 18-1. Ohio State has traveled to Minneapolis ranked among the Top 5 nationally in the Associated Press poll seven times (7-0). The Buckeyes, No. 3 in the poll this week, have been among the Top 3 teams four times in games played at Minnesota. The last time the Golden Gophers played host to a Top 3 Buckeye team was Feb. 6, 2011 when the No. 1 Buckeyes knocked off Minnesota at Williams Arena 82-69.
+ The Minnesota men’s basketball team hosts its highest-ranked opponent since February 2018 as the Gophers welcome third-ranked Ohio State for the Maroon and Gold’s Big Ten home opener. Minnesota is seeking its first win over a top-five team since defeating No. 5 Maryland at home on Feb. 18, 2016.
+ Already twice this year, the Gophers have taken aim at the record books from beyond the 3-point arc. Against Central Michigan, Minnesota drained 14 treys, which ties for the second-most in school history (last: 12/13/02 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson). Minnesota sank 13 3-pointers in the season opener vs. Cleveland State.
+ The Gophers already rank highly among the nation’s college basketball teams in several categories. As of Dec. 13, Minnesota is 19th in blocked shots per game (B1G: 2nd), 42nd in 3-pointers made per game (B1G: 2nd), and 46th in assists per game (B1G: 3rd). Daniel Oturu is seventh in the country in blocks (B1G: 2nd) while 10th in rebounds per game (B1G: 1st) and 16th in field goal percentage (B1G: 1st). Marcus Carr is 12th in the country in assists per game (B1G: 2nd). Payton Willis leads the Big Ten and ranks 72nd in the nation in 3-pointers made per game.
+ Minnesota welcomes seven newcomers to the court this season, the most since the 2004-05 campaign. Among the group is three transfers: guards Payton Willis (Vanderbilt) and Marcus Carr (Pittsburgh) who sat out last year due to NCAA transfer rules, along with graduate transfer Alihan Demir (Drexel). Four freshmen in guards Bryan Greenlee and Tre’ Williams, along with big men Sam Freeman and Isaiah Ihnen round out the corps of fresh faces
Five Predictions
1. The Buckeyes will shoot under .350 from three-point range in Williams Arena. (It’s hard to shoot well in the dark.)
2. CJ Walker will hand out at least five assists. It will require some fastbreak points though.
3. EJ Liddell will score at least eight points and look like a junior doing it.
4. Kaleb Wesson will be within two points of his 14-point average.
5. Ohio State will hold the Gophers under .420 shooting and win by at least a dozen.
Visited the Barn and taken to the woodshed. No big deal, it’s only one loss and a lot of ranked teams getting bushwhacked this season
Apparently bucks suck without Duane Washington
Yes, I still remember that incident like it was yesterday. I think that incident and the way Minnesota handled it (or didn’t handle it) was a major factor in Fred Taylor deciding to retire so early.
What really hurt me was the fact that Paul Giel, the Minnesota AD at the time was my boyhood hero as an all American QB and MLB pitcher. Geil handed out very minor punishments for the mugging of Luke Witte.
Unfortunately every time we play in Minneapolis my thoughts turn to what happened in 1972. I’ll probably never fully shake that.
An ugly incident, indeed.
Put the third stringers in. They should be ranked 15 to 18 tops