University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers and Jackrabbits to Face Off at Williams
12/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota vs. South Dakota State
The Gophers will play host to the South Dakota State Jackrabbits on Dec. 23 at Williams Arena in what is their final non-conference contest of the season. Minnesota opens Big Ten Conference play on Dec. 29 against Penn State at Williams Arena.
The Jackrabbits will be making their fifth trip to the Twin Cities and Williams Arena in as many seasons. The Gophers are 12-0 all-time against SDSU. The game, scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Central, will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
The Jackrabbits (5-7) are coming off of an eight-point victory over Central Michigan, 80-72 on Dec. 19. Minnesota is in the midst of a six-game homestand, as well as a four-game win streak. The Gophers extended the streak to four games with an 89-48 win over Northern Illinois on Dec. 15.
About the Golden Gophers:
- Golden Gopher head coach Tubby Smith's all-time record stands at 437-173 (18th Season) while his Minnesota record is 50-28 (Third Season)
- The Gophers enter the contest against the Jackrabbits having won four in a row by an average of 32.5 points per game.
- Blake Hoffarber has led Minnesota in scoring in each of the last four games. The last Gopher to do that was Dan Coleman from Dec. 3-22, 2007.
- Lawrence Westbrook leads Minnesota in scoring at 13.0 points per game. Ralph Sampson III is the Gophers' leading rebounder at 6.3 boards per game. Westbrook enters the contest 106 points away from 1,000 for his career.
- Under Smith, Minnesota is 24-0 in regular season non- conference games at Williams Arena. Dating back to the 2006-07 season under Jim Molinari, Minnesota has won 26 consecutive non-conference regular season home games.
- Minnesota has a combined record of 32-7 under Tubby Smith in regular-season non-conference games, including a perfect 12-0 record to start the 2008-09 season.
- Smith is 35-8 (.814) overall at Williams Arena during his two-plus seasons at Minnesota.
- Minnesota is allowing just 59.6 points per game at Williams Arena under Smith (42 games). The Gophers allowed just 58.4 ppg at the Barn in 2008-09 in 18 games and 62.2 in 2007-08. Under Smith, opponents have only reached 70 points nine times in 42 games at the Barn (21% of the time).
About the Jackrabbits:
- Scott Nagy is in his 15th season as the head coach of the Jackrabbits and owns a 261-171 record.
- South Dakota State went 13-20 in 2008-09 and finished seventh in the Summit League with a 7-11 conference record.
- Garrett Callahan leads the team in scoring at 12.0 ppg, while Clint Sargent adds 10.2 ppg and a team-best 25 three-pointers.
- The Jackrabbits opened the season with a nice road win at Wyoming and followed with a home win against Mayville State before losing five in a row, including losses to Purdue and Boston College. They are 5-7 overall after an 80-72 victory over Central Michigan on Dec. 19.
Series History:
- Minnesota is 12-0 against South Dakota State all-time.
- The border rivals are meeting for the fifth straight year with each game falling in December.
- The Gophers and Jackrabbits also played on December 23 in 2005.
- The Gophers are 51-1 all-time against teams currently in the Summit League.
- Tubby Smith is 3-0 against SDSU as a head coach.
- Smith is 11-0 all-time versus teams in the Summit.
(1-0 vs. IUPUI, 2-0 vs. North Dakota State, 5-0 vs. Oral Roberts, 3-0 vs. South Dakota State)
Plenty of Points
Minnesota has tallied 371 points over the last four games in wins over Brown, Morgan State, St. Joseph's and Northern Illinois. The total is the most in a four-game stretch since 1992 when the Gophers racked up 381 points in four straight wins to open the season.
Minnesota's eight victories have come by an average of 30.1 points this season. The largest of the group game came in a 41-point romp over Northern Illinois on Dec. 15.
Minnesota started the season with victories over Tennessee Tech (87-50), Stephen F. Austin (82-42) and Utah Valley (76-51) for an average margin of victory of 34 points. This is the largest average margin of victory in the team's first three games since the 1976-77 team won its first three games by a margin of 34.33.
On the other end of the spectrum, Minnesota has three losses this season that have come by a slim average margin of 3.67 points.
| 2009-10 Gopher Victories | Score (differential) |
| 11/12 - Tennessee Tech | 87-50 (+37) |
| 11/16 - Stephen F. Austin | 82-42 (+40) |
| 11/19 - Utah Valley | 76-51 (+25) |
| 11/26 - Butler | 82-73 (+9) |
| 12/05 - Brown | 91-55 (+36) |
| 12/08 - Morgan State | 94-64 (+30) |
| 12/12 - St. Joseph's | 97-74 (+23) |
| 12/15 - Northern Illinois | 89-48 (+41) |
Sharp Shooter
Blake Hoffarber broke the school record for three-pointers in a game with eight in Minnesota's victory over Northern Illinois on Dec. 15. The previous mark of seven was held by Devoe Joseph (2009), Terrance Simmons (2001) and Lawrence McKenzie (2008).
Hoffarber has been on fire of late, hitting 21-of-35 treys over the last five games (.600). He has averaged 17.2 points per game and a shade under five boards a game during that stretch. He posted his first career double-double against Brown on Dec. 5 with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Hoffarber Garners Big Ten POTW Award
The Big Ten Conference announced Dec. 21 that Gopher guard Blake Hoffarber has been named Big Ten Conference Player of the Week for games played Dec. 14-20. It is the first Big Ten Conference weekly award for Hoffarber and is the first Minnesota player to be named player of the week since Dan Coleman received the conference's selection on Dec. 24, 2007.
Hoffarber, a junior from Minnetonka, Minn. (Hopkins HS), scored a career-high 26 points and along the way set a Gopher record by hitting eight three-point field goals in the Gophers' 89-48 victory over Northern Illinois on Dec. 15, Minnesota's lone game of the week. Hoffarber also added a team-high six rebounds and dished out four assists in 22 minutes against the Huskies.
The eight three-point field goals against NIU moved Hoffarber in to fifth place on the Gophers' all-time treys list with 144 in his career and moved him into fourth place all-time with a three-point field goal percentage of .404 (144-356).
