By The Numbers: Minnesota Golden Gophers Basketball
Rutgers Basketball is looking to make it five wins in a row today as they head out to the Midwest to take on Minnesota for another Big Ten Conference game.
Before tipoff happens later today, let's look at some of the numbers behind this year's Golden Gophers team.
OFFENSE....
After starting the season with zero expectation Ben Johnson has led the Gophers to a respectable 15-9 record. Johnson is in his third season as head coach and he already has surpassed more wins than each of his first two seasons. Despite their ascending success Minnesota still ranks right smack in the middle of the Big Ten at 7th in the conference.
The Gophers are a solid team on the offensive side of the ball. They rank 89th in the country scoring 76.1 points per game. They’re also one of the best passing teams in the nation ranking 5th with 18.4 assists per game. They’re effective shooting the ball as well, they rank 36th in the country in effective field goal percentage averaging 54.4%.
Johnson’s squad runs a nine man rotation. They have four players who average over 28 minutes per game and a deep bench where their role players thrive on both sides of the ball. The Gophers bench is a direct result of their offensive success this season as they’re able to keep tempo deep into games.
Leading Minnesota in scoring is Junior big man Dawson Garcia who averages 17.6 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game. Freshman Cam Christie has been a surprising star to this team averaging 11.3 points per game and leading the team shooting 42% from behind the arc. Junior Mike Mitchell averages 10.5 points per game and Sophomore big man Pharrel Payne averages 9.4 points per game. Finally, Junior point guard Elijah Hawkins averages 8.2 points per game and leads the team averaging 7.6 assists.
DEFENSE...
Minnesota is equally solid on the defensive side of the ball, as they allow their opponent to score an average of 69.3 points per game which ranks 92nd in the nation. They’re effective on defense as they only allow their opponent to shoot 46.3% from two pointers which ranks 40th in the nation. They also defend three pointers very well, only allowing 5.9 three pointers per game which ranks 30th in the country.
The Gophers do struggle in other aspects defensively. They struggle grabbing rebounds allowing their opponent to grab 33.5 rebounds per game which ranks 104th in the nation. They also struggle generating turnovers averaging only 6.4 steals per game which ranks 173rd in the nation.
This will be a tough game for the Scarlet Knights as Minnesota is a sneaky good team who is also fighting for a spot to play in March. The Gophers offense is generated through big man Dawson Garcia, so as long as Rutgers puts an emphasis on defending Garcia they should have a good chance in winning this game.
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