University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Travel to Indiana to Face Hoosiers
1/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota at Indiana: The Minnesota Golden Gophers will head out of town for one more this week, as they travel to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Indiana Hoosiers on Sunday, Jan. 17 at Assembly Hall. The game is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. (Central) and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
The Gophers will be trying to record their third-straight victory over the Hoosiers, including a second-straight win in Bloomington. The Southern Indiana town has not been kind to the Gopher program, as it has only secured a victory in 18 trips.
The Hoosiers come in to the contest having dropped three straight conference games at Ohio State, vs. Illinois and at Michigan on Jan. 14. Indiana opened conference play with a 71-65 victory over Michigan.
About the Golden Gophers:
- Golden Gopher Head Coach Tubby Smith's all-time record stands at 441-175 (18th Season) while his Minnesota record is 54-30 (Third Season)
- The Gophers are amongst the nations leaders in many statistical categories. As of the NCAA's most recent stats (Jan. 14), Minnesota is seventh in turnover margin (5.5), eighth in steals per game (10.8), eighth in assists per game (17.6), 15th in blocked shots (6.4), 18th in scoring margin (15.4), 21st in defensive field goal percentage (38.3) and 23th in assist turnover ratio (1.34) Individually, Blake Hoffarber is third in the nation in 3-point FG percentage (.505) while Al Nolen is ninth in assist turnover ratio (3.0) and 18th in steals per game (2.5). Also, Damian Johnson joins Nolen on the steals list, as he sits 25th nationally with 2.4 spg.
- Minnesota leads the Big Ten Conference in defensive field goal percentage (.383), blocked shots (108: 6.4 bpg) and steals (183: 10.8 spg).
- Blake Hoffarber is averaging a career-high 11.8 ppg this season and is shooting .540 (68-126) from the field and .505 (49-97) from three-point land, also career highs.
- Hoffarber is averaging 16.6 ppg and is shooting .629 (56-89) from the field and .576 (38-66) from behind the arc over the last 10 games. Lawrence Westbrook is close behin- d at 14.4 ppg while shooting .524 from the field.
Westbrook leads Minnesota in scoring for the season with a career-high 13.7 points per game. He enters the contest 17 points away from 1,000 for his career.
- Ralph Sampson III is the Gophers' leading rebounder at 5.9 boards per game. He played 17 minutes against Ohio State (1/9) and 31 minutes against Michigan State (1/13) after missing two games (Iowa & Purdue) with a sprained right ankle.
- The Gophers went 8-0 this season at Williams Arena during the non-conference schedule. Under Smith, Minnesota is 25-0 in regular season non-conference games at the Barn. Dating back to the 2006-07 season under Jim Molinari, Minnesota has won 27 consecutive non-conference regular season home games.
- Smith is 38-8 (.826) overall at Williams Arena during his two-plus seasons at Minnesota.
- Minnesota is allowing just 59.7 points per game at Williams Arena under Smith (46 games). The Gophers allowed just 58.4 ppg at the Barn in 2008-09 in 19 games and 62.2 in 17 games during the 2007-08 season. Under Smith, opponents have only reached 70 points 10 times in 46 games at the Barn (22% of the time).
About the Hoosiers:
- Tom Creen is in his 2nd season as the head coach at Indiana. He came to Bloomington after nine seasons at the helm of the Marquette program. He went 190-96 at Marquette, taking the Golden Eagles to five NCAA Tournaments and the 2003 Final Four.
- Indiana freshman Maurice Creek leads the team in scoring at 16.4 per game but will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury. Fellow freshman Christian Watford and sophomore Verdell Jones III are both averaging 12.8 ppg.
Series History:
- Minnesota is 60-86 against Indiana all-time. The series dates back to a 34-7 Gopher victory in1912.
- The Gophers have won three straight against the Hoosiers, including a pair of victories last season (67-63 in Bloomington & 62-54 at Williams Arena).
- The Gophers are only 18-24 against the Hoosiers away from Minneapolis.
- Minnesota holds a record of 679-729 all-time within the Big Ten Conference.
- Tubby Smith is 11-4 against Indiana as a head coach, 3-2 since coming to Minnesota.
