Two Big Ten teams looking to gain momentum in the conference will do battle in Columbus on Thursday when the Ohio State Buckeyes host the Minnesota Golden Gophers, here’s a preview of the tilt.
TV Schedule: Thursday, January 21, 6:30 pm ET, Fox Sports 1
Arena: Value City Arena, Columbus, OH
On Thursday in Columbus, two Big Ten teams look to turn things around when Ohio State (12-6, 2-5) hosts the Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-8, 4-4). When Ohio State defeated Penn State on December 7th Chris Holtmann’s team was 9-0 and ranked 6th in the country, since then the Buckeyes are just 3-6 and find themselves near the bottom of the conference.
Minnesota began the year 4-5 and began Big Ten play with a loss to Iowa, but since then Richard Pitino’s squad has gone 6-3, which ironically began with a 13-point win over Ohio State at home. Despite the 4-4 conference mark, the Golden Gophers have had trouble sustaining any traction this season, with three games being their longest winning streak of the season.
After defeating Kentucky on December 21st, the then No. 5 Buckeyes were 11-1 and looking like one of the best teams in the country, but then something changed. A team that began the year scoring in droves, scoring over 75 points in seven of those 12 games, suddenly struggled to put the ball in the basket. Since that win, they have gone just 1-5 and only eclipsed 75 points twice, a win and a loss.
The Buckeyes average just under 74 points per game but have just three players in double figures, led by star forward Kaleb Wesson’s 14.7. But during this 1-5 stretch, the offense has only been able to muster 63.5 points per game and if they hope to even begin the climb back to the levels they were achieving before Christmas, they will need more than that.
While the Golden Gophers haven’t had a free fall like Ohio State but they have struggled to gain much momentum this season. With a current mark of 4-4 in Big Ten play, Minnesota is smack dab in the middle of the standings but currently sit just two games out of second. They looked to be gaining some traction in mid-December with a three-game winning streak that began by beating Ohio State, but a tough double-overtime loss to Purdue halted that, and since then going just 3-2 with losses to the top two teams in the conference, Michigan State and Rutgers.
The key matchup in this one will once again come with the leading scorer and rebounder on each team going head-to-head. Both Ohio State’s 6-9 270lb. junior and the Golden Gophers’ 6-10 270lb. center Daniel Oturu average a double-double, or in Wesson’s case just short of one. The Minnesota big man has been dominant this season with 20.2 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game and Wesson leads his team with 14.7 points and 9.3 rebounds. This battle of big men won’t just take place in the paint, as the two men have made 37 of their 93 three-pointers this season.
All season long it has been extremely difficult to win on the road, especially in the Big Ten. But, given the offensive struggles of late for Ohio State, I think this is one of the rare times where the road team earns the win and Minnesota will earn a season sweep of Ohio State.