University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Hope to Breakout at Penn State
2/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Minnesota at Penn State: The Minnesota Golden Gophers will head back out on the road as they head to University Park, Pa. to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday, Feb. 6 at the Bryce Jordan Center. The game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. (Central) and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network with Craig Coshun and former Ohio State All-American Jim Jackson on the call.
The Gophers have played the Nittany Lions five times in the Tubby Smith era and hold a 4-1 record, including a 75-70 victory at Williams Arena on Dec. 29 to open up the Big Ten schedule. Lawrence Westbrook tied a career-high in that game with 29 points. Talor Battle led Penn State with 23 points.
The Gophers are 17-4 overall against Penn State, 6-3 in University Park.
About the Golden Gophers:
- Golden Gopher Head Coach Tubby Smith's all-time record stands at 442-178 (18th Season) while his Minnesota record is 55-33 (Third Season)
- The Gophers are amongst the nations leaders in many statistical categories. As of the NCAA's most recent stats (Jan. 31), 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 blocked shots (133: 6.3 bpg) and steals (205: 9.8 spg) and is second in the conference in defensive field goal percentage (.397).
- Blake Hoffarber is averaging a career-high 11.5 ppg this season and is shooting .526 (82-1156) from the field and .496 (58-117) from three-point land, also career highs.
- Hoffarber is averaging 14.5 ppg and is shooting .588 (70-119) from the field and .547 (47-86) from behind the arc over the last 14 games. Lawrence Westbrook is close behind at 13.7 ppg while shooting .521 from the field in that same stretch.
- Westbrook leads Minnesota in scoring for the season with a career-high 13.3 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 Penn State game with 1,031 career points, which is 31st on the Gophers' all-time scoring list.
- Ralph Sampson III is the Gophers' leading rebounder with a career-high 5.9 boards per game. He missed two Big Ten Conference games (at Iowa & at Purdue) with a sprained right ankle.
- Al Nolen will miss the rest of the season after being declared academic ineligible by the NCAA.
- 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 Nittany Lions:
- Ed DeChellis is in his 7th season as the head coach at Penn State, his alma matter.
- Penn State went 27-11 in 2008-09 and defeated Baylor 69-63 to win the NIT Tournament title.
- Taylor Battle leads the team in scoring (19.0 ppg), rebounding (5.5 rpg) assists (3.8 apg) and minutes played (36.6 mpg). He was a member of the 2009 All-Big Ten First Team and is on both the Naismith and Wooden Award watch lists.
- The Nittany Lions are coming off of a 62-75 loss at Ohio State on Feb. 3.Series History:
- Minnesota is 17-4 against Penn State all-time.
- Minnesota won the opener in the series, 75-70 on Dec.29 at Williams Arena. Lawrence Westbrook tied a career-high with 29 points and Blake Hoffarber chipped in with 11.
- Minnesota is 6-3 against Penn State in University Park and had won three-straight at Bryce Jordan until last season's 63-68 loss.
- Minnesota holds a record of 680-732 all-time within the Big Ten Conference.
- Tubby Smith is 4-2 against Penn State as a head coach.
