Purdue Basketball Preview: Game 14 — @ Minnesota to resume Big Ten play

A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE

• After dropping games at top-15 Marquette and at Penn State in December conference play, the Boilermakers are looking for their first road win of the season.

• After missing the Toledo game with a sprained foot, center Will Berg has returned to training and is available, although his minutes were still up and down before the injury.

• Purdue is one of 12 teams sitting at 1-1 after two Big Ten games.

• Wing Myles Colvin has made just one of his past 14 three-point attempts, a slide that Purdue will be eager for him to break out of when Big Ten play returns.

• Purdue’s won six of its last seven meetings with Minnesota with one-sided victories in each of its last two trips to Barnet.

• Defensive rebounding has not been a strength for Purdue, as opponents are grabbing 32 percent of their misses.

• Coming off a career-high 34 points vs. Toledo, Braden Smith needs just three more to hit a thousand points for his career.

ABOUT THIS GAME

• Minnesota had some momentum last season, then fell victim to the portal and NIL world when Texas A&M grabbed the big man Pharrell Payne and Texas Tech took guard Elijah Hawkins. Furthermore, freshman star Cam Christie turned pro earlier than anyone might have expected. The key departures significantly set back the Gophers’ rebuild under Ben Johnson.

• Minnesota held on to the traveled veteran Dawson Garciaone of the top players in the Big Ten. The 23-year-old 4/5 man, formerly of Marquette and North Carolina, is averaging 19.1 points and 7.4 rebounds and has had big games against Purdue before, utilizing his ability to shoot threes, score inside and drive from the high post against bigger defenders. Garcia scored 24 against Purdue at Mackey Arena as the Gophers really pushed the second-ranked Boilermakers on their home court.

• Supervised Mike Mitchell averaging 13.3 points and shooting 49 percent from three on robust volume.

• In December, Minnesota fell 90-72 to Michigan State at home and 82-67 at Indiana, making it one of three teams to open the Big Ten 0-2. Wisconsin and Washington are the other two.

• Minnesota is a poor shooting team, shooting just 30.5 percent from three-point range and an atrocious 64.9 percent at the foul line.

The odd thing is that the Gophers’ top two scorers are excellent foul shooters and good three-point shooters. It’s everyone else who is the problem. Its two highest-volume three-point shooters shoot 21.5 and 22.2 percent, respectively. The same at the foul line, where Minnesota has two players with the highest volume, shooting 44 percent and 35 percent.

• Average Minnesota rebounds and hasn’t shown much bite on the offensive glass, where Purdue is vulnerable at times.

THREE KEYS TO PURDUE

Our sense here is that Purdue is fine, even though he has taken some losses to this point. But now it’s time for the Boilermakers to prove it. It’s tough times in Minnesota again, and here’s guessing this won’t be too scary of an environment.