Road Slate Begins Wednesday at Xavier

MINNEAPOLIS -- No. 25 Minnesota women's basketball takes to the road for the first time this season as it visits Xavier Wednesday night.

The game will be available to view online at GoXavier.com for free and can be heard on the Gophers' new radio home, 96.7 FM KFAN Plus.

THE OPENING TIP-OFF

• Sitting 1-0 on the season, Minnesota enters Wednesday night's game ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll. It's the first time the Golden Gophers have been ranked since Jan. 19, 2015, when they were No. 21, and it's just the fourth time overall since the 2005-06 season. Head coach Lindsay Whalen is now the 39th person in women's basketball history to be ranked as both a player and a coach and the 12th do it at the same school. The Golden Gophers were ranked for the last eight weeks of Whalen's sophomore season as well her entire junior and senior years.

• Minnesota opened the 2018-19 season with a 70-47 win over New Hampshire on Nov. 9. The announced sellout crowd of 14,625 was a program record, surpassing the previous high of 14,363 set during Whalen's senior season in 2004. Four of the top five marks in team history, and eight of the top 10, have now occurred with Whalen as either a player or coach.

• A career-high 21 points from senior Annalese Lamke and a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds from junior Taiye Bello complemented a strong defensive effort as Minnesota captured an 70-47 win over New Hampshire in Whalen's head coaching debut last Friday. Minnesota has now won 10 straight season openers and 17 of its last 18 such games. The team has also prevailed in 19 straight home openers.

• Minnesota has won five straight road openers and is 18-27 in such games dating back to 1973-74.

• The Golden Gophers are looking to start 2-0 for the seventh straight season. A win Wednesday would also make Whalen the fifth coach in Gophers' history to win her first two games. The record belongs to Pam Borton, who won her first 12 games during the 2002-03 season, Whalen's junior season..

SERIES WITH XAVIER
• Minnesota and Xavier each have one win in their series history. The Musketeers won the first ever meeting at the 2009 Junkanoo Jam in the Bahamas, while the Golden Gophers secured the win last year in Minneapolis.
• Last season, the Golden Gophers rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat Xavier 74-62 to start a season 5-0 for the first time in 10 years. Trailing 40-32 at the half, Minnesota rallied to a 57-51 lead by the end of the third quarter. The Gopher defense held the Musketeers to 22 points and forced 12 turnovers in the second half. Then-senior Carlie Wagner led the team with 24 points, while then-junior Kenisha Bell scored 20, including 15 points in the second half, and distributed seven assists.

LAMKE HAS CAREER NIGHT IN SEASON OPENER
• After scoring 18 points all of last season, senior Annalese Lamke exploded for a career-high 21 in the Gophers' season-opening win over New Hampshire.
• Lamke scored 17 points alone in the second half and recorded an efficient 9-of-12 shooting. In addition to career highs in points, field goals made and field goals attempted, she also added a career-high three made throws, five rebounds and two steals.

GOPHERS RECEIVE VOTES IN BOTH PRESEASON POLLS

• Minnesota received votes in both the preseason AP and USA Today Coaches Poll. The last time that happened was in 2005-06 when the Gophers began the year ranked 16th and 17th, respectively, in the polls.

• The Golden Gophers were the top team to receive votes in the AP Poll, placing them 26th in the country. It was the eighth time in program history Minnesota appeared in the AP Preseason Poll and the first since also receiving votes in 2015-16.

• Minnesota garnered 12 points in the Coaches Poll to tie Florida Gulf Coast for 33rd. Like the AP Poll, it was also the 8th time in program history Minnesota appeared in the Coaches Preseason Poll and the first since also receiving votes in 2013-14.

• Eight of the Gophers' opponents this season appeared in at least one of the two polls. Maryland (9 AP/10 Coaches), Iowa (13/17) and Syracuse (18/18) were ranked in both polls. Michigan received votes in each poll, while Illinois, Michigan State, Nebraska and Ohio State received votes in one of the two polls.

MINNESOTA PICKED THIRD BY BIG TEN MEDIA

• Minnesota came in the third in the Big Ten media's preseason rankings behind No. 1 Maryland and No. 2 Iowa. The latter two teams were also picked in those same spots by the league's coaches, while Michigan was ranked third. Only the top three teams are announced.

• Bell was one off 11 student-athletes to be recognized by both the media and league's coaches on their respective Preseason All-Big Ten Teams. She was a unanimous selection by the coaches and was joined by Pitts on the media's preseason team.

• It was the first time the Gophers had multiple players earn preseason conference honors since the 2014-15 season when Rachel Banham and Amanda Zahui B. did it.

BELL, PITTS LAND ON PRESEASON WATCH LISTS

• Kenisha Bell was one of 20 student-athletes, including one of three from the Big Ten, to be added to the watch list for the 2019 Nancy Lieberman Award, given annually to the nation's top point guard.

• Bell was also one of 50 named to the watch list for the Citizen Naismith Trophy Women's Player of the Year.

• Destiny Pitts was one of 20 student-athletes, including one of two from the Big Ten, to be added to the watch list for the 2019 Ann Meyers Drysdale Award, given annually to the nation's top shooting guard.

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Players Mentioned

Kenisha Bell

Taiye Bello

Annalese Lamke

Destiny Pitts

Carlie Wagner