Gophers Host Akron Tonight at Williams Arena

Minnesota vs. Akron:
Minnesota will play host to the Akron Zips on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Williams Arena. The game will be the Gophers' final contest before final exams and will not take to the court again until Dec. 23 against South Dakota State.  

Minnesota and Akron have met only once in each school's history. The Gophers defeated the Zips 86-59 during the 1991-92 season at Williams Arena.
Akron comes into the game with a record of 4-3 on the season. The Zips last played on Sunday evening in Philly against Temple. The Owls won 82-47.

About the Golden Gophers:

Golden Gopher Head Coach Tubby Smith's all-time record stands at 459-185 (20th Season), while his record at Minnesota is 72-40 (Fourth Season).
Ralph Sampson III & Trevor Mbakwe both collected a double-double on Nov. 12 against Wofford. It was the first time since 2005 that a pair of Gophers finished with a double-double in the same game (Jonathan Williams - 11 points, 10 rebounds; Vincent Grier - 15 points, 10 rebounds vs. Iowa)
Mbakwe has a total of six double-doubles on the season: 12 pts & 16 rbs at St. Joseph's; 12 pts & 16 rbs vs. Cornell; 18 pts & 11 rbs vs. Virginia on Nov. 29; 10 pts & 11 rbs vs. Siena on Nov. 15; 18 pts & 10 rbs vs. Western Kentucky on Nov. 18; 14 pts & 10 rbs vs. Wofford on Nov. 12.
Mbakwe contributed back-to-back 16 rebound games this season against Cornell and St. Joseph's. His 16 boards against Cornell (12/4) were the most by a Gopher since Zack Puchtel pulled down 15 against Michigan in the first round of the 2006 Big Ten Tournament.
Junior guard Devoe Joseph made is 2010-11 debut against Virginia and started his first game of the season at St. Joseph's. He is averaging 11.2 points per game and 24.5 minutes in four games played.
Senior Blake Hoffarber leads the team in scoring at 15.0 points per game and is also dishing out a team-high 4.7 assists per game.
Mbakwe leads the team in rebounding at 10.2 rebounds a game to go along with 13.8 points per game. Mbakwe was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and Big Ten Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 15-21.
Junior Ralph Sampson III is third on the team in scoring at 11.2 points per game, leads the team with 2.1 blocks per game and is second in rebounding at 6.4 rebounds per game.
The Gophers lead the Big Ten Conference in blocked shots and steals through 10 games. They have swatted 57 shots for an average of 5.70 bpg and swiped 88 balls for an average of 8.80 spg. Minnesota has led the conference in both categories the last two seasons.
The Gophers made their first trip to the championship game of the Big Ten Tournament last season, where they posted wins over Penn State (76-55), 11th-ranked Michigan State (72-67 in OT), and sixth-ranked Purdue (69-42), before losing to #5 Ohio State (90-61) in the title game.

About the Zips:

The Zips are coached by Keith Dambrot (7th Season).
Dambrot has a career record of 251-135 in 13 seasons on the bench. He holds a 143-65 at Akron.
Prior to coming to Akron, Dambrot was the head coach at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, where he won two Ohio State titles with LeBron James.
Dambrot has also been the head coach at Tiffin, Ashland and Central Michigan.
The Zips have won at least 23 games in each of the last five seasons.
Akron is lead by junior forward Nikola Cvetinovic. The Serbia native is averaging 13.4 points per game.

 
Series History:

The Gophers lead the all-time series 1-0.
The Gophers defeated the Zips 86-59 during the 1991-92 season at Williams Arena.
The Gophers are 17-2 all-time against teams from the Ohio Valley Conference.
(1-0 vs. Akron, 1-1 vs. Ball State, 3-0 vs. Bowling Green, 2-0 vs. Central Michigan, 1-0 vs. Eastern Michigan, 1-0 vs. Miami of Ohio, 5-0 vs. Northern Illinois, 2-0 vs. Ohio, 1-1 vs. Toledo)
Tubby Smith has played a team from the MAC in each of his previous three seasons at Minnesota. The Gophers defeated Central Michigan in 2007, Bowling Green in 2008 and Northern Illinois last season.
Smith is 10-0 all-time versus teams in the MAC.
(1-0 vs. Ball State, 1-0 vs. Bowling Green, 1-0 vs. Central Michigan, 1-0 vs. Kent State, 2-0 vs. Miami of Ohio, 1-0 vs. Northern Illinois, 3-0 vs. Ohio) .

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Blake Hoffarber

Devoe Joseph

Trevor Mbakwe

Ralph Sampson III