No. 7 Wolverines Head to Minneapolis to Face Gophers at Williams Arena

Thursday, February 21

Minneapolis, Minn.

6:00 PM CT

Michigan

Minnesota

Ignas Brazdeikis

No. 7 Wolverines Head to Minneapolis to Face Gophers at Williams Arena

2/20/2019 10:47:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: Tom Wywrot

» No. 7 Michigan heads to Minneapolis for a key Big Ten battle against Minnesota at Williams Arena.
» Earlier this season, U-M escaped with a 59-57 win over the Gophers Jan. 22 at Crisler Center after Charles Matthews made a baseline jumper as time expired.
» Matthews is shooting 63.1 percent (24-for-38) over his last three games and has led U-M with 18 points against Wisconsin (Feb. 9), 24 points at Penn State (Feb. 13) and 14 against Maryland (Feb. 16).
» After not recording an assist in the first match-up against Minnesota, Zavier Simpson has dished 48 (6.8 apg) over his last seven games.
» In the last match-up against Minnesota, Ignas Brazdeikis posted a double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds).

NEXT GAME
Thursday, Feb. 21 -- at Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minn.), 6 p.m. CST

The seventh-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team (23-3, 12-3 Big Ten) heads to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for yet another key battle in the drive for the Big Ten title, as the Wolverines face Minnesota (17-9, 7-8 Big Ten) Thursday (Feb. 21) at Williams Arena. In an ESPN broadcast, tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST with Jason Benetti and Robbie Hummel on the call.

A Little Bit About Minnesota

• Minnesota sports a 17-9 overall record, including a 7-8 mark in Big Ten play.
• The Gophers are 12-2 at home, including a 6-2 mark in league play, compared to a 1-7 record (1-6 Big Ten) in true road games.
• Minnesota has four players scoring in double figures, led by junior Amir Coffey at 15.3 points per game. Coffey adds 3.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and a steal a game.
• Senior forward Jordan Murphy averages a double-double with his 15.0 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. Murphy (309 rebounds) and freshman forward Daniel Oturu (176, 7.0 rpg) have accounted for 49 percent of the Gophers' total rebounds -- Murphy alone is 31 percent. Oturu adds 10.8 points and 1.5 blocks per game.
• Freshman shooting guard Gabe Kalscheur is the fourth double-figure scorer for the Gophers with his 10.5 per game average. He leads Minnesota with 58 three-pointers (2.2 per game) and a 40.0 three-point percentage.
• Minnesota ranks 10th in the country in free throw attempts, having gone to the line 639 times this season. Murphy has a team-high 195 free throw attempts and is shooting 69.7 percent from the line, while Coffey is second with 151 and is shooting 72.8 percent.
• The Gophers are also second in the Big Ten with 12.2 offensive rebounds per game and rank fourth with 37.5 total rebounds per game.
• Richard Pitino is in his sixth season as head coach at Minnesota. In his first season (2013-14) in Minnesota, he guided the Gophers to the NIT championship. He added Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in 2017.

The All-Time Series with the Gophers

• Thursday's game will be the 161st all-time meeting in the series.
• The Wolverines lead the all-time series, 94-66, winning the last three meetings and 12 of the last 13 games. Despite losing last year at Williams Arena (83-78), the Wolverines are 8-2 in their last 10 games in Minneapolis. Overall, U-M holds a 33-45 record on the road in the series.
• Thursday's match-up will be the second meeting between the two teams this season. U-M used a last-second jumper by Charles Matthews to escape with a 59-57 victory at Crisler Center on Jan. 22.
• There have been seven overtime games in the series with U-M going 6-1 in those games. The last overtime game played in the series was a 76-73 Wolverine win at Crisler Center on Feb. 3, 2018.
• There have been 28 games in the series decided by three or fewer points, with U-M holding a 19-9 record in those games.
• U-M head coach John Beilein is 17-4 against Minnesota.

Earlier This Season ... Wolverines Escape with Last-Second Win

• With less than a second on the clock, Charles Matthews beat the buzzer with a baseline jumper to give Michigan a 59-57 victory over Minnesota on Jan. 22.
• Minnesota used a small run at the end of the game to knot it up at 57 before Michigan called a timeout to draw up the final play of the game. Zavier Simpson held the ball before giving it to Ignas Brazdeikis, who drove and missed a shot. Brazdeikis tipped the rebound out to Matthews, who drained the winning shot for the Wolverines.
• Matthews ended the night with seven points, Brazdeikis scored a team-best 18 points and tied a career high with 11 rebounds against the Golden Gophers. Jon Teske also had a big game for the Maize and Blue, going 7-for-8 from the floor for 15 points while adding five rebounds and three blocks.

How About These to Start the Notes Off?

• The Wolverines' 20-plus wins (23) mark the ninth time under John Beilein and the 30th overall in U-M history.
• Among those nine 20-plus-win seasons, Beilein owns two of the four 30-plus-win seasons in U-M history, including the program record of 33 set last season (33-8). He also finished 31-8 in 2012-13. Both of Beilein's 30-plus-win seasons included trips to the Final Four and national title game.
• U-M's 10-plus Big Ten wins (12) give Beilein his fourth straight season of 10 or more. In fact, he has reached double-digit wins in seven of the last eight seasons. Those seven seasons are the most of any U-M coach in program history -- passing Steve Fisher (6), Bill Frieder (6) and Johnny Orr (6).
• Already the all-time winningest coach at U-M with 271 wins, Beilein became U-M's all-time Big Ten leader -- passing Johnny Orr (120) -- with a 77-65 victory at Rutgers (Feb. 5). Beilein, who has 123 conference victories, is one of 21 Big Ten coaches to win 100 or more in a career.
• Since going 5-for-11 (.454) at the free throw line at Wisconsin (Jan. 19), Michigan has shot 76.3 percent (84-for-110) over its last eight games. For the season, U-M shoots 69.2 percent.
• Jon Teske leads the Big Ten in blocked shots (2.2). He has had at least one block in 25 games and in his last 21 straight. His 58 blocks are the most for a Wolverine since Ekpe Udoh had 92 in 2007-08 -- 11 seasons ago.
• Jordan Poole has scored in double figures in his last five games. He has 18 total double-figure games this season -- second only to Ignas Brazdeikis (20).
• Charles Matthews got red hot in the second half against Wisconsin (Feb. 8), scoring 16 of his 18 points in the second half, and he has been on fire ever since, shooting 63.1 percent (24-for-38) over his last three games. He followed his 18 points against the Badgers by leading U-M with 24 points at Penn State (Feb. 13) and 14 against Maryland (Feb. 16).
• After not recording an assist against Minnesota (Jan. 22), Zavier Simpson has dished 48 (6.8 apg) over his last seven games, including a career-best 12 against Ohio State -- which led to U-M's sixth all-time triple-double. Overall he has surpassed 150 dimes (155 total) for a second season in a row.
• Since going 1-for-7 at Indiana (Jan. 25), Isaiah Livers has gone 15-for-26 (.576) from the field in his last six games, including 8-for-17 (.470) from long range.
• Livers has made at least one three-pointer in his last 10 games. In fact, 60 percent of his shots this season have been from long range.
• With seven three-pointers against Maryland, Michigan has made it 12 straight seasons knocking down 200 or more long-range buckets in a season.