Gophers Face Cornell for First Time Friday

MINNEAPOLIS -- No. 23 Minnesota (4-0) continues its six-game homestand Friday afternoon against Cornell (2-1) at 3 p.m. It's the third game of the team's longest stretch of games at home since also playing six in a row at The Barn during December of the 2013-14 season.

Friday's game will be available to stream on BTN Plus and can be heard on the Gophers' new radio home this season, 96.7 FM KFAN Plus.

THE OPENING TIP-OFF

• Taiye Bello recorded a double-double in the first three games of the season, and though she didn't have one last game out against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, she did produce a career-high 19 rebounds. Through Tuesday's games, Bello was leading the country in rebounds per game (16.8), was second in offensive rebounds per game (7) and was fifth in defensive rebounds (10).

• Sitting 4-0 on the season, Minnesota enters Friday's game ranked No. 23 in the AP Poll. After coming in at No. 25 last week, this is the first time the Gophers have been ranked in consecutive weeks since Jan. 12 (23) and Jan 19, 2015 (21). It's just the fifth time overall they've appeared in the AP Poll since the 2005-06 season. The Gophers are 4-2 all-time as the No. 23 team.

• According to women's basketball writer Mel Greenberg, Minnesota head coach Lindsay Whalen is the 39th person in women's basketball history to be ranked as both a player and a coach and the 12th to 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.

• The Golden Gophers are looking to start 5-0 for the second straight season and the sixth time in program history. A win Saturday would also make Whalen the second coach in Gophers' history to win her first five games. The other to do it was her former coach, Pam Borton, who won her first 12 games during the 2002-03 season, Whalen's junior season.

• Minnesota has allowed just 190 points in four games (47.5 ppg) so far this year. That's the lowest point total allowed in the first four games of the season for the Gophers since the 1973-74 season, the first year where program game-by-game records exist. That season, they held their first four opponents to a combined 183 points.

SERIES WITH CORNELL
• Minnesota and Cornell will meet for the first time on Friday, one of six new opponents for the Gophers this year, along with New Hampshire and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, whom the Gophers have already beaten this year, as well as Syracuse, Incarnate Word and Coppin State.

• In its history, Minnesota is 8-0 against teams from the Ivy League, with the average score being 87-62 in the Gophers' favor.

• The last meeting came against Harvard to start the 2016-17 season with Minnesota prevailing 103-87. In their Gopher debuts, Gadiva Hubbard scored 16 points and added eight assists and five steals, while Jasmine Brunson started and scored 15 points, and Taiye Bello recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds in 20 minutes.

RECAPPING THE WIN OVER ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF
• Minnesota opened on a 9-2 run and never looked back as it doubled up Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 84-42.

• Four players scored in double figures for the Gophers with Kenisha Bell's 24 points leading the way. Mercedes Staples contributed a career-high 13 points, while Jasmine Brunson added 12 and Destiny Pitts finished with 11.

• Though she saw her streak of double-doubles come to an end after three games, Taiye Bello finished with a career-high 19 rebounds.

• Numerous season highs were established by Minnesota in the game, including points, margin of victory (42), field goal percentage (56.3), 3-pointers made and attempted (7-of-17), free throws made (23), and rebounds (50).

• Minnesota had its lowest point total allowed since an 80-36 win over Loyola on Nov. 26, 2013.

GOPHERS SCORING DEFENSE STRONG TO START SEASON

• Minnesota's scoring defense has been stellar so far this season and is a big reason the team is 4-0.

• The 190 points allowed by Minnesota through the first four games of the season is the second lowest opponent point total in program history.

• The Gophers have held opponents to 53 points or fewer in four straight games for the first time since the 2004-05 season when they did it in five straight contests.

• The Golden Gophers rank 15th in the country in scoring defense by allowing just 47.5 points per game. Conversely, last season Minnesota finished the year ranked 335th by allowing 74.8 points per game.

BELLO DOMINATING THE GLASS

• Junior Taiye Bello posted double-doubles in the first three games this season. She was the first Minnesota player to have three straight double-doubles since Amanda Zahui B. ended the 2014-15 season with four in a row. Bello now has seven in her career, with Minnesota going 7-0 in those games.

• Bello finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds in the season opener. She followed that up with 11 points and 16 rebounds at Xavier and had her double-double by halftime with 10 points and 13 rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Next game out against San Diego, she had 13 points and 18 rebounds.

• Though she didn't have a double-double against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, she did have a career-high 19 rebounds, which were the most by a Gopher since Zahui B. had 22 against DePaul in the NCAA Tournament on March 20, 2015.

• Through Tuesday's games, she was leading the country in rebounds per game (16.8), more than a full rebound ahead of Radford's Savannah Felgemacher, who was in second with 15.7.

• Bello also ranked second in the country with seven offensive rebounds per game, fifth with 10 defensive rebounds per contest and ninth with three double-doubles.

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Players Mentioned

Kenisha Bell

Taiye Bello

Jasmine Brunson

Gadiva Hubbard

Destiny Pitts

Mercedes Staples