University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Take on Northwestern In Saturday Afternoon Tilt
1/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Game No. 19 • Big Ten Game 5
MINNESOTA (7-11, 1-3 Big Ten)
vs.
NORTHWESTERN (10-8, 0-5 Big Ten)
January 20, 2007 • 1:30 p.m.
Williams Arena • Minneapolis, Minn.
Television: KSTC Ch. 45 - Dick Bremer, PBP; Tim McCormick, analyst
Radio: Gopher Radio Network - Mike Grimm, PBP; Kevin Lynch, analyst
STORYLINES
• Minnesota plays its second home game of the week after falling 64-52 to Illinois on Wednesday.
• Minnesota will play its third game without injured center Spencer Tollackson. Tollackson broke his left hand in the first half at Wisconsin on Saturday, Jan. 6, and will miss a minimum of three weeks.
• Minnesota holds a 82-55 all-time lead in the series (not including vacated games).
• Minnesota leads the series played in Minneapolis 49-18. Northwestern has won the last five meetings.
• The last Gopher win in the series was Feb. 19, 2003, 73-61, in Evanston, Ill.
• Minnesota juniors Lawrence McKenzie and Dan Coleman currently rank sixth and seventh in the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 15.8 and 15.1 points, respectively.
MATCHUP
The Gophers play their second home game of the week in hosting the Northwestern Wildcats.
An early Illinois run was too much for Minnesota to overcome on Wednesday, as the Gophers fell 64-52. Northwestern lost at Ohio State on Wednesday, 73-41, and is 0-5 in the Big Ten.
SCOUTING the Wildcats
Northwestern is currently the only team in the Big Ten without a conference win at 0-5. Like Minnesota, the Wildcats frontcourt has been adversely affected by injuries. Northwestern has played the last two games without 6-8 freshman forward and leading scorer Kevin Coble, who was out with an ankle sprain. Even without Coble, Northwestern gave No. 2-ranked Wisconsin all it could handle on Jan. 13, leading for the majority of the game before the Badgers gutted out a 56-50 win. Sophomore Craig Moore averages 10.2 points per game, but the heart of the Wildcats is senior Tim Doyle, who is second in the Big Ten in both assists per game (5.44) and minutes played per game (34.78).
