Gophers Back at The Barn Thursday Against Northwestern

MINNEAPOLIS -- In the only regular season matchup between the teams this season, Minnesota (11-3, 1-2 B1G) returns home Thursday to host Northwestern (12-2, 2-1). The game, which starts at 7 p.m. CT, can be streamed on BTNPlus.com and heard on the Gophers' radio home, 96.7 KFAN Plus.

THE OPENING TIP-OFF

• Minnesota is 7-2 this season at home, outscoring teams by an average of 78-62. The seven wins came consecutively from Nov. 10 to Dec. 21, one victory away from cracking the top 10 for longest home win streaks in program history. Destiny Pitts leads the Gophers in scoring at Williams Arena this year at 17.8 points per game. She's one of four in double figures along with Gadiva Hubbard (11.4) and Jasmine Powell (10.7). Taiye Bello is averaging a double-double in home games this year at 12.0 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest.

• The Gophers lead the Big Ten and rank 13th in the country in free throw percentage at 77.0 percent, making 191 of 248 attempts. Of the 12 teams with a higher percentage than the Gophers, only Iowa State (233), Lipscomb (201), and Portland State (193) have more makes, while Iowa State (291) and Lipscomb (250) are the only teams with more attempts. The next closest B1G team to Minnesota in percentage is Iowa at 73.3 percent. Destiny Pitts leads the league at 84.9 percent shooting on free throws, while Jasmine Powell is fourth at 78.8 percent.

• Minnesota enters Thursday's game receiving votes in the AP Poll. The Golden Gophers have appeared in every AP Poll so far this season.

• Senior Taiye Bello has posted seven double-doubles this year, including a stretch of four straight at one point. She also has had three other games this year where she was either one point or one rebound away from a double-double. Her seven double-doubles lead the Big Ten and are 13th nationally. In her career, Bello has 22 double-doubles to rank sixth in Gophers history, and the Gophers are 19-3 in those games. Through Monday, she was one of 30 players in the country, and the only one from the Big Ten, to be averaging a double-double. Even better, she was one of just 25 players nationally with her averages of 13.1 points and 10.0 rebounds per game this year.

• Through the first eight games of the season, junior Destiny Pitts was averaging a very respectable 14.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. But she's been even more impressive over her last six games, averaging 20.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per contest. She's scored at least 19 points in five of those games, including 26 points vs. Ohio State on Dec. 31, and is shooting 48.9 percent (22-45) on 3-pointers during the stretch.

• In Big Ten play, Destiny Pitts is tied for the conference lead in 3-pointers made per game (3.0), is third in minutes played per game (37.0) and is seventh in scoring average (19.7). Meanwhile, Taiye Bello ranks fourth in blocks per game (1.7) and rebounding average (9.7), and Sara Scalia is sixth in 3-pointers made per game (2.3).

FACING NORTHWESTERN

• Minnesota and Northwestern will meet for the 74th time ever on Thursday. It's the fourth most-played series for Minnesota behind only Iowa (78), Wisconsin (77) and Ohio State (75).

• The Golden Gophers hold a slight 37-36 edge in the all-time series. Minnesota has won six of the last seven in the series, including each of the last four by an average score of 73.8-60.5. The four-game win streak is tied for the fifth longest active win streak for the Gophers against a DI team.

• In Minneapolis, the Gophers hold a 20-12 series lead. Minnesota has won four straight (by an average score of 83.3-69) and 13 of the past 14 against the Wildcats at The Barn. Like the overall win streak, the home streak versus Northwestern is also tied for fifth longest.

• In her career, Gophers head coach Lindsay Whalen has never lost to Northwestern, going 5-0 as a player and 2-0 as a coach.

• Northwestern has one Minnesotan on its roster: senior Abi Scheid from Elk River (Elk River High School).

• The Wildcats are 12-2 on the season and 2-1 in the Big Ten. Northwestern won its first five games of the season then rattled off seven more wins in a row following its loss to then-No. 16 DePaul on Dec. 1. The Wildcats opened B1G play with wins over Illinois (77-50) and then-No. 12 Maryland (81-58) before falling Sunday against Iowa (77-51).

• Northwestern leads the Big Ten and ranks third nationally with a 1.53 assist-to-turnover ratio. In addition, the Wildcats also lead the league in fewest fouls per game (13.4; 9th in the NCAA) and fewest turnovers per game (12.1; 11th nationally).

• Individually, Lindsey Pulliam is second in the Big Ten in scoring at 19.5 points per game, while she leads the conference in field goals made and attempted. In addition, Veronica Burton is tops in the B1G with 3.71 steals per game, a figure that ranks sixth nationally.

LAST SEASON AGAINST THE WILDCATS

• Minnesota won both meetings with Northwestern a year ago, winning in Evanston, 61-54, on Jan. 31 and again in overtime in Minneapolis, 73-64, on Feb. 10.

• The win in Evanston was aided by three players scoring at least 14 points as Destiny Pitts led all scorers with 19 points, while Kenisha Bell added 17 and Jasmine Brunson posted 14.

• The Gophers forced Northwestern into 19 turnovers, while the defense also forced the Wildcats to just 37.7 percent shooting.

• Leading by two at halftime, Minnesota came out firing in the second half, scoring the first nine points to push the lead to 39-28. The Gophers led 48-37 entering the fourth quarter, but Northwestern slowly chipped away at their lead.

• After a jumper by Brunson put Minnesota ahead 54-43 with 6:13 to go, the Wildcats scored six straight to close the gap to five points with 2:53 to play.

• Pitts provided relief, though, when she knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key to stop the run and push the lead back to eight with 2:32 to play. Northwestern fought back, however, to score the next five points to make it a three-point game with 29 seconds to play. Pitts remained clutch down the stretch, though, as she made all four free throw attempts.

• The teams met 10 days later in Minneapolis as Minnesota notched the 700th win in program history.

• The Golden Gophers were up 54-49 with 5:10 left to play in the game when the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to lead 58-54 with 59 seconds remaining. The Gophers had an answer, though, as Destiny Pitts' basket cut the lead to two with 52 seconds to play. After forcing a missed shot, Kenisha Bell grabbed an offensive rebound on the other end and laid it in with seven seconds left to tie the game at 58-58.

• The extra session belonged to Minnesota as the Gophers came roaring out of the gates, scoring the first nine points to put the Gophers ahead 67-58 with 2:06 remaining in overtime. Northwestern would get as close as five points with 1:20 to go, but Pitts made all four of her free throws down the stretch to give the Gophers their fourth straight win.

• Bell posted a double-double as she finished with a game-high 24 points and matched a season high with 11 rebounds.

• Pitts scored 21 points as she played all 45 minutes. She made her first four attempts from 3-point range in the first half to ignite the offense early, and was 7-of-8 at the free throw line. All seven free throws came in overtime. She added six rebounds.

• Jasmine Brunson also reached double figures as she went for 14 points while playing all 45 minutes.

RECAPPING THE GAME AT NEBRASKA

• Minnesota was dealt its first road loss of the season Saturday in a 72-58 setback at Nebraska.

• Three Gophers reached double figures with Taiye Bello leading the way with 16 points. Twelve of her 16 came in the third quarter, tying for the most in any quarter this season by a Gopher. She also had five rebounds (four offensive), two blocks and two steals.

• Destiny Pitts was second on the team with 12 points, snapping a string of five straight games with at least 19 points. She added a game-high four assists and three rebounds. Gadiva Hubbard had her best scoring game of the young conference season with 10 points.

• A Pitts jumper made it 13-12 early in the second, but Nebraska responded with the next 10 points to go up 23-12. That was met with a 12-4 run by Minnesota that got it back within 27-24 with just under three minutes left in the opening half. Nebraska had one more run before the teams hit the locker room, though, as it scored eight of the last 10 points to lead 35-26 at the break.

• Bello scored on back-to-back baskets to open the third quarter to cut the lead to five, but the Gophers would not get any closer the rest of the way as a 10-0 spurt from the Huskers gave them their largest lead of the game at 45-30 midway through the third.

• The Gophers kept chipping away at the lead, however. Down 50-36, they scored eight of the next nine points to trail only by seven with 1:34 left in the third.

• Nebraska pushed the lead back to 10 through three quarters at 54-44, and the Gophers cut the lead to single digits when Pitts made a 3-pointer, was fouled and hit the free throw to trail 56-48 with 8:50 to play. Nebraska scored the next six points, however, and led by double digits the rest of the way.

OFFENSE UP IN YEAR TWO UNDER WHALEN

• Through 14 games, the Minnesota offense has picked up its scoring and production in year two under head coach Lindsay Whalen.

• The Gophers are averaging 76.5 points per game this year, over four points better than the 72.3 points they were averaging at this same stage a season ago.

• The Gophers' shooting percentage on 3-pointers is 83 points better than last year even though they have 93 more attempts this year. The team's current .394 mark on 3-pointers is on pace to be the second best in school history behind the record of .399 set in 1988-89.

• Individually, Destiny Pitts is shooting 45.3 percent (43-95) on 3-pointers this year, after making 32.9 percent (28-85) through 14 games a year ago. In addition, freshman Sara Scalia (43.6%) and redshirt junior Gadiva Hubbard (39.0%), who missed last year with an injury, have bolstered the 3-point shooting.

• Minnesota is also 97 points better on free throws as it leads the Big Ten and ranks 13th nationally by shooting .770 percent from the line. That would top the program record of .763 set in the 2009-10 season.

• At the line, six Gophers have attempted at least 15 free throws this year and all are shooting better than 73 percent, including Pitts (84.9) and Jasmine Powell (78.8), who rank first and fourth, respectively, in the B1G in free throw percentage. Last year at this stage, of the six players with at least 10 attempts, only two were shooting above 67 percent from the line.

FRESHMEN POWELL, SCALIA MAKING INSTANT IMPACT

• Minnesota has six freshmen on its 2019-20 roster and some are already making significant contributions.

• Sara Scalia, who has started every contest this year except for the season opener, leads the team in free throw percentage (.867) and steals (23), is second in field goal percentage (.462), 3-point percentage (.436) and minutes per game (29.9), third in rebounding average (4.4) and fourth in scoring (10.5).

• Scalia's 3-point percentage of 43.6 stands as the best ever by a Gopher freshman (min. 40 attempts) and is currently the fourth best in one season at Minnesota (min. 50 attempts).

• Within the Big Ten, Scalia leads all freshmen in 3-pointers made per game (1.7), is second in minutes per game, third in scoring average, fourth in steals per game, sixth in rebounding average and ninth in assists per game (1.6).

• Against Bryant on Nov. 26, she scored 20 points and tied a career high with seven rebounds en route to being named B1G Freshman of the Week. She later followed that up at George Washington on Dec. 10 when she set or tied multiple career highs, including points (23), rebounds (7), steals (4) and blocks (2). She also scored 22 points in her Big Ten debut at Penn State on Dec. 28, tying a career high with five 3-pointers made and matching career bests in both rebounds (7) and assists (4).

• Jasmine Powell, who has come off the bench in all 13 games, is fifth on the team in scoring at 9.1 points per game and has a 2.14-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio, which ranks fifth in the Big Ten. She's also 41-of-52 (.778) at the line to rank second on the team in free throws made and third in attempts, and fourth in the B1G in percentage.

• Within the Big Ten, Powell leads all freshmen in free throw percentage and assist-to-turnover ratio, is second in assists per game (3.2), seventh in steals per game (1.4) and eighth in scoring average.

• Powell put up 19 points against Vermont on Nov. 10, the most by a non-starter at Minnesota since teammate Destiny Pitts had 20 on Nov. 16, 2017, and has scored in double figures in four games this year.

• With Scalia averaging 10.5 points per game and Powell at 9.1, the Gophers' duo is showing the makings of one of the top freshman scoring combinations in recent program history. In the last 25 years, the only other season in which more than one freshman averaged at least 9.0 points per game came in 2000-01 when current head coach Lindsay Whalen (17.0) and Tanisha Gilbert (14.7) did it.

• Additionally, the four freshmen that have played this year, including Klarke Sconiers (3.7 ppg) and Barbora Tomancova (0.8), have combined for 24.1 points per game, the highest figure among Gopher freshmen in the last 13 years and third largest in the last 25 years.

GOPHERS WINNING TURNOVER BATTLE

• Minnesota is winning the turnover battle so far, forcing 255 turnovers while giving the ball away just 176 times through 14 games.

• Not only do the Gophers rank second in the Big Ten and 17th nationally with with just 12.6 turnovers committed per game, they are also third in the B1G in turnover margin (+5.64; 26th nationally) and fourth in turnovers forced per game (18.21) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.16; 33rd nationally).

• In terms of taking care of the ball, against Vermont on Nov. 10 the Gophers only committed five turnovers, which tied for the third fewest in program history. The Gophers have had four games this year with 10 or fewer turnovers and only four contests where it has turned the ball over more than 15 times.

• Five times this year Minnesota has forced opponents into at least 20 turnovers. Against Milwaukee on Nov. 14, Minnesota forced the Panthers into 33 turnovers, which tied for the 10th most forced in program history. The Gophers then turned those 33 turnovers into 35 points.

• Converting turnovers into points has been a trend for the Gophers all season.The Gophers have turned 255 takeaways into 306 points this year, an average of 1.20 points for every turnover forced. There have been only two games this year where they have failed to earn at least one point for every turnover forced.

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Players Mentioned

Kenisha Bell

Taiye Bello

Jasmine Brunson

Gadiva Hubbard

Destiny Pitts

Jasmine Powell

Sara Scalia

Klarke Sconiers

Barbora Tomancova