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Meet Preview: Maroon & Gold Set for Big Ten Clash with Nebraska
2/12/2021 12:13:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics
The Minnesota men's gymnastics team will travel to Lincoln, Neb. to battle the Nebraska Cornhuskers at 2:00 p.m. CST on Saturday, Feb. 13.
The Gophers enter their third meet of the season holding a Big Ten and overall season record of 0-2 following their loss to Ohio State last weekend. Nebraska also is yet to capture their first win of the season, as they fell in their season opening meet last Sunday against Penn State.
"We had a really good week of preparation after returning from Ohio State. Our guys are getting healthier day by day and getting more capable day by day as well," head coach Mike Burns said. "I always tell my guys - first you need to be able, then you can become capable. Once you become capable you become dependable. When each of you is dependable, then we as a team become unbeatable. We are focused on becoming more dependable this week as we enter Cornhusker territory and it's going to take a real team effort to go into Lincoln and take down Nebraska. They are a very solid and deep team and put up a great meet last week at Penn State. It'll take our guys ramping up their level of dependability this week to stay competitive with an impressive Huskers squad. I'm feeling better about the strength of our lineup and these guys are hungry to put together a high hit percentage on the road."
The Gophers are coming off of a week with numerous personal bests being set by the squad. This includes junior Mike Moran setting a new career high all-around score of 79.000, along with sophomore Victor Perez posting a 13.050 high bar score, which led to him winning his first career event title with the team.
The meet against Nebraska is available to stream on BTN+ (subscription required) at the link provided above. Live stats will also be provided for fans through the Cornhuskers website, with a link also provided above. Fans can also track the Maroon & Gold by following the Minnesota men's gymnastics Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages.
Gophers in the Rankings
Following Minnesota's clash with Ohio State last weekend, the Gophers now sit at No. 8 in the nation in terms of team score average. Team event rankings for the Maroon & Gold are as follows: sixth on parallel bars, eighth on floor exercise, eighth on still rings, eighth on high bar, ninth on vault, and tenth on pommel horse.
* Rankings based off of Road to Nationals team averages
Scouting Nebraska
The Cornhuskers enter their home opener against the Gophers coming off of a 406.900-403.050 loss to Penn State last Sunday. Despite dropping the meet, Nebraska's score of 403.050 is the fourth highest of any team this season so far, behind only Oklahoma, Michigan, and the Penn State team they faced last weekend. Nebraska's Cooper Giles led the Cornhuskers last weekend with a career high and event title winning pommel horse score of 14.100, which ultimately led to his earning of the CGA Specialist of the Week Award.
The Road Ahead
After the Gophers finish up this Saturday's 2:00 p.m. matchup with Nebraska, they will enter a two week bye period for the Winter Cup, which is set to take place Feb. 26-28. The team will then host Penn State at Maturi Pavilion Saturday, Mar. 6 at 12:00 p.m. CST.