University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Off to East Lansing to Face Michigan State
1/24/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 24, 2012
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Time: 7:30 p.m. CT
Location: East Lansing, Mich.
Arena: Breslin Center (14,759)
Television: BTN
Gus Johnson (Play-by-Play)
Shon Morris (Analyst)
Radio: Learfield/1500 ESPN Twin Cities
Mike Grimm (Play-by-Play)
Spencer Tollackson (Analyst)
SERIES INFORMATION
Series: 108th meeting (54-53)
Series (Away): 54th meeting (20-33)
Current Streak: L-2
Last Meeting: Feb. 22, 2011 (L, 48-53)
Tubby Smith vs. MSU: 17th meeting (3-13)
Minnesota vs. Current Big Ten: 705-741
Tubby Smith vs. Current Big Ten: 56-56
Game day Tid-Bits:
• Following a brief one-game homestand, the Gophers are back on the road to face Michigan State in East Lansing.
• Minnesota is riding a two-game conference road winning streak (at Indiana & at Penn State). The Gophers hadn't won two-straight Big Ten road games since defeating Iowa & Wisconsin during the 2009 conference season.
• The Gophers head to MSU in search of their fourth-straight Big Ten Conference victory. It would be the third time under Tubby Smith that they have had such a conference win streak (2009 - Ohio State, at Iowa, Penn State, at Wisconsin & 2011 - Purdue, Iowa, at Michigan, Northwestern).
• Prior to Smith's arrival, the Minnesota program had only seen nine other four-plus conference win streaks - Bill Musselman's teams did it twice (1972 & 73), Jim Dutcher's teams did it three times (1976, 78 & 82), Clem Haskins' 1990 squad did it (vacated season's not included) and Dan Monson's teams accomplished it three times (2001, 03 & 05).
• East Lansing hasn't been kind to the Gophers. Not counting vacated seasons, Minnesota has not won at the Breslin Center since a 79-74 win on Feb. 1, 1990 (The Gophers won two-straight at Breslin, and three-straight overall, during the vacated seasons - the final matchup during the 1996 conference season & both matchups in 1997, Minnesota's Final Four season).
• Minnesota and Michigan State have played 10 times since Tubby Smith took the Gopher reigns. The Gophers are 1-9 in those games but seven of the 10 games have been single-digit losses, including a pair of five-point losses and a one-point loss. Minnesota's lone win came during the 2010 Big Ten Tournament which snapped an eight-game MSU win streak.
Smith Seeking 100th Win at Minnesota:
• With 20 wins during the 2011-12 season Golden Gopher head coach Tubby Smith could join a short list of coaches to reach the 100-win plateau at the University of Minnesota.
• Smith began the season with a Gopher record of 80-53 and currently stands at 95-58.
• Smith's 80 wins at Minnesota to start the 2011-12 season are the most by a coach in his first four seasons on the bench in Gold Country.
• Smith's winning percentage of .621 is the fourth highest in the history of the program.
Minnesota Coaches with 100 Wins
| L.J. Cooke | 250-135 (28 seasons) |
| Clem Haskins* | 240-165 (13 seasons) |
| Dave McMillan | 196-156 (18 seasons) |
| Jim Dutcher | 190-113 (11 seasons) |
| O.B. Cowles | 147-93 (11 seasons) |
| Dan Monson | 118-106 (7 seasons) |
| John Kundla | 110-105 (9 seasons) |
*includes vacated games
Minnesota Coaches Winning Percentage
| Bill Musselman | .683: 69-32 (4 seasons) |
| L.J. Cooke | .649: 250-135 (28 seasons) |
| Jim Dutcher | .627: 190-113 (11 seasons) |
| Tubby Smith | .621: 95-58 (5 seasons) |
Tubby Smith Trends:
In four-plus seasons under Tubby Smith, Minnesota has followed some pretty significant winning trends:
• 86-8 when leading with 5:00 remaining
• 77-38 when bench outscores opponents bench
• 79-10 when leading at the half
• 56-15 with fewer turnovers than opponent
• 63-6 when scoring 70 points or more
• 64-19 at Williams arena
• 69-22 when outrebounding its opponent
• 67-15 when attempting more free throws than its opponent
Sampson III & the Gopher Record Books:
Trevor Mbakwe had been the talk of the Gophers entering the season but the other senior co-captain, Ralph Sampson III, will more than likely finish his Minnesota career as one of the best big men in program history.
He has a chance to become just the fifth player to finish his Gopher career with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 150 blocks (Kevin McHale, Randy Breuer, Mychal Thompson and Michael Bauer).
Sampson III Career Numbers
• 114 career games played (103 starts)
• 936 career points (8.2 average)
• 587 career rebounds (5.1 average)
• 191 career blocks (1.7 average) - tied for third-most in Gopher History
Mass Improvement:
• The Gophers' roster includes eight players that are competing in their first seasons in Minneapolis but the roster also includes five players that have played significant minutes in Maroon & Gold.
• Of those players, four are putting up career numbers. The other, senior Ralph Sampson III, is averaging just under the career numbers he posted last season.
• Also, one of the "newcomers", Julian Welch, is posting improved numbers from his only other season of Division 1 hoops, his freshman season at Cal-Davis.
| Player | Previous Best | 2011-12 |
| Ahanmisi | 2.1 pts, 1.1 ast | 4.3 pts, 2.2 ast |
| Armelin | 4.4 pts, 1.4 rbs | 6.0 pts, 1.6 rbs |
| Austin Hollins | 4.5 pts, 1.5 rbs | 8.8 pts, 2.0 rbs |
| Williams | 6.8 pts, 3.5 rbs | 10.7 pts, 5.8 rbs |
| Welch | 7.8 pts, 1.3 ast | 10.6 pts, 2.5 ast |
