Gophers Begin Second Season Thursday vs. Michigan State

SERIES INFORMATION
128th Meeting (59-68 all time)*
Neutral Site Record vs Michigan State: 3-2
Big Ten Tournament Record vs. MSU: 3-1
* - excludes vacated games

STARTING FIVE
• The University of Minnesota men's basketball team enters the 2024 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament as the No. 9 seed, held March 13-17 at Target Center in Minneapolis. The Golden Gophers will face Michigan State on Thursday at 11 a.m., and televised on the Big Ten Network. Should the Gophers win their Thursday game, they would advance to Friday's 11 a.m. quarterfinal game against No. 1 seed Purdue.
• The Golden Gophers finished the Big Ten regular season with a 9-11 record, the most conference wins for Minnesota since the 2018-19 season and the highest seeding under head coach Ben Johnson. Minnesota improved five spots from last year's No. 14 seeding. It marks the fifth time the Gophers have been the No. 9 seed in Big Ten Tournament history and first since 2013.
• Minnesota is 3-1 all-time against Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament, with the last appearance against the Spartans since 2017. The Gophers went 1-1 against MSU earlier this season. The Gophers fell at Michigan State 76-66 on Jan. 12 despite a 22 point and 14 point performance by Dawson Garcia and Mike Mitchell Jr. The Gophers split the year with a 59-56 home win over the Spartans in their most recent appearance. Cam Christie had a team-best 19 points, followed by Garcia with 10 for the win. In the most recent win over MSU, 14 of Christie's 19 points came in the second half. Christie made 5-of-8 field goals, including 5-of-7 from three-point range, and added six rebounds.
• Dawson Garcia added his third 30-point game of the season in the 90-66 loss at Northwestern. Garcia made 13-of-19 field goals to reach 30 points in a game for the third time this season, all in Big Ten play, and he added three blocked shots to go with his nine rebounds. He also had 29 points at Illinois, and has scored at least 20 points 11 times.
• Elijah Hawkins recorded his sixth double-digit assist game this season in the Northwestern loss and his fifth point-assist double-double. The double-digit assists put him in a tie for the nation's most assists this season, 224, while his 7.5 assists per game ranks second nationally. Since joining the Gophers, the floor general's assist number went from 185 as a sophomore at Howard, to 224 this year. Additionally, his turnovers went from 125 last year to 83 this season.

ABOUT MICHIGAN STATE
• Michigan State is 18-13 overall this season and finished 10-10 in Big Ten play. The Spartans have dropped their last four of five, but earned their 10th conference win over Northwestern last week. The Spartans fell in the Big Ten regular season finale at Indiana in a one-point loss 64-65.
• Michigan State is led by All-Big Ten selection Tyson Walker with 18.4 ppg, which ranks fifth in the Big Ten. Malik Hall averages 12.7 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds. A.J. Hoggard leads the team with 155 assists and averages 10.9 points, while Jaden Akins as a team-best 58 three-pointers and averages 10.5 points.
• As a team, Michigan State averages 73.4 points and allow just 65.9. That ranks the second lowest scoring defense in the league behind Maryland. The Spartans are shooting 46 percent from the field and 36 percent from beyond the arc. They are shooting 70.5 from the charity stripe and average 34.7 rebounds.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR
• This time last year, Minnesota was 2-17 in conference play and 8-21 overall, and the No. 14 seed in the tournament. The Gophers finished 9-11 this year and 18-13 overall. That win improvement marks the best in the Big Ten and one of the best nationally among Power 6 teams. South Carolina went from 11 wins to 25 this year, while Cal went from 3-29 (2-18 in PAC-12) to 13-18 and 9-11 in conference play. Ole Miss was 12-21 and 3-15 last year in the SEC and are now 20-11 and 7-11 in league action.

GARCIA, HAWKINS, CHRISTIE, FOX RECEIVE B1G HONORS
• The University of Minnesota men's basketball team had four individuals receive postseason All-Big Ten recognition, announced Tuesday by the league office. Dawson Garcia was named Second Team All-Big Ten by the media and Third Team by the coaches, while Elijah Hawkins was Big Ten Honorable Mention in both categories. Cam Christie was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team, while Parker Fox received Minnesota's Sportsmanship Award.
• It marks the second-straight year Garcia has garnered All-B1G awards after being an honorable mention in 2022-23. It marks Hawkins' and Christie's and Fox's first honors. The last time the Gophers had a Big Ten All-Freshman honoree dates back to Amir Coffey in 2017.

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Players Mentioned

Cam Christie

Parker Fox

Dawson Garcia

Elijah Hawkins

Mike Mitchell Jr.