Wolverines to Head to Minnesota for a Battle at the Barn

Sunday, January 12

Minneapolis, Minn.

Noon CT

Michigan

Minnesota

Wolverines to Head to Minnesota for a Battle at the Barn

1/11/2020 9:48:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: Tom Wywrot

» No. 19 Michigan hits the road for first of two road games starting with a trip to Minnesota and the Barn.
» U-M and Minnesota will meet for the 163rd time; the Wolverines lead, 96-66, in the all-time series.
» Zavier Simpson, who is expected to play in his 132nd straight game, has 133 assists, the most in the nation. That tally is more than the rest of the Wolverines combined (106). He is second in the nation with 8.9 assists per game.
» Jon Teske leads U-M in scoring (14.7), rebounds (8.2), blocks (2.0) and steals (1.1).

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The 19th-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team heads to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota at Williams Arena on Sunday (Jan. 12). The game is scheduled for a noon CST tipoff on Big Ten Network with Cory Provius (p-by-p) and Robbie Hummel (analyst) as the broadcast crew.

What You Need to Know for Sunday's Game

• Senior Zavier Simpson is expected to play in his 132nd consecutive game -- he has not missed a game over his four-year career. He leads the nation with 133 assists and is second with 8.9 per game. He adds a career-best 12.1 points per game.
• Simpson needs 12 assists to move into second on U-M's all-time list. He has five 10+ assist games this season and eight-plus in his last six games.
• Senior Jon Teske leads U-M in scoring (14.7), rebounding (8.2), blocks (2.1) and steals (1.1).
• Over his last three games, freshman Franz Wagner has averaged 9.6 points and 5.0 rebounds.
• As a starter (three games), sophomore Brandon Johns Jr. is averaging 8.7 points. He averaged 4.1 off the bench (11 games). He has made three of his five three-pointers on the season.

All-Time Series with Minnesota

• Sunday's game will be the 163rd all-time meeting between Michigan and Minnesota, and the only meeting during the regular season. U-M leads, 96-66, in the all-time series against the Gophers and has won the last five meetings. Since 2008, U-M has gone 18-4 against the Gophers.
• U-M is 34-45 in Minneapolis, but is 9-2 in its last 11 games at Williams Arena.
• There have been 29 games decided by three points or fewer with U-M leading, 20-9. The last time a game was decided by fewer than three points was on Jan. 22, 2019, when a Charles Matthews baseline jumper off an Iggy Brazdeikis missed layup helped U-M to a narrow 59-57 victory.
• There have been seven overtime games in the all-time series, with U-M trailing, 6-1. The last overtime game was Feb. 3, 2018 when the Wolverines held off a Gopher second half rally to win 76-73 in the extra period at Crisler Center.
• Largest U-M Victory: 41 points (97-56) at Michigan on Jan. 17, 1985.
• Largest U-M Loss: 39 points (10-49) at Minnesota on Feb. 16, 1918.
• U-M Victories by 10+ Points: 46 | U-M Losses by 10+ Points: 31
• U-M's average margin in wins: 10.5 | U-M's average margin in losses: 10.3

Who are the Minnesota Golden Gophers?

• Minnesota has an 8-7 overall record, including a 2-3 mark in Big Ten play. The Golden Gophers are 7-1 at home in Williams Arena, which includes conference victories over Ohio State and Northwestern.
• The Golden Gophers have four players scoring in double figures, led by Daniel Oturu who is averaging 19.3 points per game. Marcus Carr adds 15.5 points per contest, Gabe Kalscheur chips in 12.9 points per game and Payton Willis is scoring 10.3 points per contest.
• Oturu also is averaging a league-high 12.3 rebounds per contest and is one of two players in the Big Ten, along with Iowa's Luka Garza, averaging a double-double.
• Minnesota is tied for the lead in the Big Ten for three-point field goals per game, making 8.7 per contest, along with Ohio State. Kalscheur has a team-high 41 made triples, while four other Gophers have 10+.
• The Golden Gophers are 20th in the country in blocked shots, averaging 5.6 per contest. Oturu is averaging a team-best 3.1 blocks per game, second-best in the Big Ten and ninth nationally.
• Richard Pitino is in his seventh season as head coach at Minnesota having guided the Golden Gophers to the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and 2019.

Things to Check Out

• Zavier Simpson has vaulted himself up U-M's all-time assist list and is third all-time with 564. He became the fourth Wolverine to reach the 500-assist mark joining U-M greats Gary Grant (731), Rumeal Robinson (575) and Antoine Joubert (539).
• Simpson has had eight-plus assists in his last six games, with two games with 10 or more.
• Simpson has five-plus assists in 14 of 15 games, with 10+ in five, including a career-best 14 against Houston Baptist (Nov. 22). In his career, he has 58 five-plus assist games and 13 10+ assist games.
• Jon Teske leads U-M with 14.7 points per game. He has 13 double-figure scoring games with 11 games with 15 or more in a game and a career-best 25 points against UMass Lowell (Dec. 29).
• Teske leads U-M with three double-doubles this season. He opened this year with 17 points and 13 boards against Appalachian State. He produced that double-double with 6:22 left in the first half. He added a second double-double against No. 8 Gonzaga (19 points, 14 rebounds) and a third at No. 1 Louisville (18 points, 10 rebounds).
• Teske became the 45th Wolverine to join the 500-rebound club at U-M, making the list against Oregon (Dec. 14). He ranks 42nd on the list with 529 career boards.
• Teske leads U-M with 32 blocks, nearly three and a half times the next closest Wolverine -- Brandon Johns Jr. (nine). Teske has had a season-best four blocks in four games this season -- the last against Purdue (Jan. 9).
• Austin Davis has come off the bench in eight games this season. After posting a career-best eight points against Iowa, he followed with three straight games of seven points. In 9.8 minutes per game, he is averaging 4.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and is shooting a team-best 68 percent.
• Brandon Johns Jr. scored 23 points over his first seven games (3.2 ppg). Over his last seven, he has 50 (7.1 ppg). Johns nearly mirrors that split margin with his rebounding. He grabbed 24 in his first seven games (3.4). In the next seven, he has 33 (4.7 rpg).
• In U-M's 11 wins, the Wolverines have shot 52.6 percent, averaged 9.8 three-pointers per game and outrebounded its foes by 3.9 per game. In its four losses, U-M has shot 36.8 percent, averaged 5.0 three-pointers and have been outrebounded by 8.0 per game.