University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers to Face Buckeyes in Columbus
1/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota at Ohio State: The Minnesota Golden Gophers will head back out on the road as they head to Columbus, Ohio to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday, Jan. 31 at Value City Arena. The game is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. (Central) and will be broadcast on CBS with Kevin Harlan, Bill Raftery and Clark Kellog on the call.
The Gophers have played the Buckeyes five times in the Tubby Smith era and the home team has held court at home in all five. Minnesota will head in to this game with 1-0 lead in the season series after a 73-62 win Jan. 9 at Williams Arena.
Minnesota has not had much luck, however, against Ohio State away from Minneapolis with only one victory (60-56 ot - Jan. 19, 2005) in its last 12 trips to Columbus (not counting vacated seasons).
About the Golden Gophers:
- Golden Gopher Head Coach Tubby Smith's all-time record stands at 442-177 (18th Season) while his Minnesota record is 55-32 (Third Season)
- The Gophers are amongst the nations leaders in many statistical categories. As of the NCAA's most recent stats (Jan. 28), Minnesota is eighth in turnover margin (4.6), ninth in steals per game (10.1), seventh in assists per game (17.7), 11th in blocked shots (6.7), 16th in assist turnover ratio (1.37), 18th in defensive field goal percentage (38.6),18th in scoring margin (13.1) and 22nd in three-point FG percentage (.393).
- Individually, Blake Hoffarber is first in the nation in 3-point FG percentage (.496) while Al Nolen is 11th in assist turnover ratio (2.96) and 22nd in steals per game (2.4). Also, Damian Johnson joins Nolen on the steals list, as he sits 30th nationally with 2.3 spg.
- Minnesota leads the Big Ten Conference in defensive field goal percentage (.386), blocked shots (133: 6.7 bpg) and steals (201: 10.1 spg).
- Blake Hoffarber is averaging a career-high 11.6 ppg this season and is shooting .527 (78-148) from the field and .496 (56-113) from three-point land, also career highs.
- Hoffarber is averaging 14.8 ppg and is shooting .595 (66-111) from the field and .549 (45-82) from behind the arc over the last 13 games. Lawrence Westbrook is close behind at 14.2 ppg while shooting .522 from the field in that same stretch.
- Westbrook leads Minnesota in scoring for the season with a career-high 13.7 points per game. He joined the Gophers' 1,000 point club with a pair of free throws in the second half against Michigan State on Jan. 23. He enters the Ohio State game with 1,024 career points, which is 31st on the Gophers' all-time scoring list.
- Ralph Sampson III is the Gophers' leading rebounder with a career-high 6.1 boards per game. He missed two Big Ten Conference games (at Iowa & at 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 39-9 (.813) overall at Williams Arena during his two-plus seasons at Minnesota.
- Minnesota is allowing just 59.8 points per game at Williams Arena under Smith (48 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 48 games at the Barn (20% of the time).About the Buckeyes:
- Thad Matta is in his 5th season as the head coach at Ohio State. He is 4-5 against Minnesota.
- The Buckeyes come in to the game off of a 65-57 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes on Jan. 27. They are riding a four-game conference win streak with victories over Purdue, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Iowa since falling to the Gophers on Jan. 9.
- OSU's leading scorer and rebounder is junior Evan Turner at 18.4 ppg and 9.9 rpg. He missed six games this season with a back injury.
- The Buckeyes boast a starting lineup with four double-digit scorers, including Turner, William Buford (13.4), Jon Diebler (13.0) and David Lighty (13.0). Their other starter, Dallas Lauderdale, lead the conference in blocked shots with an average of 2.5 bpg.Series History:
- Minnesota is 49-76 against Ohio State all-time. The series dates back to 1904.
- Minnesota won the opener in the series, 71-62 on Jan. 9 at Williams Arena behind a career-high 27 points by Blake Hoffarber.
- Minnesota is 16-47 against Ohio State in Columbus, including a 58-64 loss in last year's game at Value City Arena.
- The Gophers are 33-29 against the Buckeyes in Minneapolis, 31-26 at Williams Arena.
- Minnesota holds a record of 680-731 all-time within the Big Ten Conference.
- Tubby Smith is 3-2 against Ohio State as a head coach.
