Time: Monday, February 8th, 7:00pm CT

Location: Williams Arena, Minneapolis, Minnesota

TV: BTN

Radio: Learfield IMG College/KTLK 1130 AM

KenPom Rankings: Minnesota 42nd, Nebraska 124th

KenPom Prediction: Minnesota 80, Nebraska 68

After starting out conference play 3-2 with wins over ranked Iowa, Michigan State, and Ohio State teams, the Gophers have won just one of their last six games. Their lone win in that span was against a top-10 Michigan team at home. Nebraska on the other hand, has been struggling to get games in due to COVID stoppages, and when they have played have struggled. The Cornhuskers come to Minneapolis with a 4-9 record, and an 0-6 record in Big Ten play. They haven't beaten a division one opponent sine beating South Dakota on December 1st of 2020.

This will be Minnesota's first matchup of the season with Nebraska, as their planned January 20th matchup in Lincoln got postponed. Richard Pitino is 4-6 against Nebraska in his career at Minnesota, with their last win coming in the Big Ten tournament last season 107-75.

Three Players to Watch

Teddy Allen

Junior guard Teddy Allen started his career as a West Virginia Mountaineer, averaging 7.0 points per game as a freshman. After a redshirt season, Allen transferred to Western Nebraska Community College and averaged 31.4 points per game in his one season there.

As a Cornhusker, Allen flashes how dynamic a scorer he really is. He's scored 20+ points in six contests, and only scored less than double-digits once in a loss to Michigan State. Six-times he's hit three three-pointers in a game this season.

Allen can be streaky as well. He's shooting 42.5% from the field and 34.2% from deep. At times, it looks like he takes some erratic shots, but they go in every once in awhile so he has the green light to try to make things happen on this Nebraska team.

Dalano Banton

The 6'9" New York "point guard" that runs the show for the Huskers was originally a Western Kentucky Hiltopper to start his career. As a freshman in the C-USA, Banton averaged 3.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.1 assists.

After transferring to Hoiberg and Nebraska and sitting out last year, Banton was given the keys to the Husker offense and taken a big jump from his freshman year production. The lanky mismatch is averaging 12.1 points per game to go with 6.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

Against Doane College (NAIA), Banton posted a 13 point, 11 rebound, 10 assist triple-double, and he's scored in double-figures in every game except three this year. All three have come in the last four games for Banton, so he's slumping a bit in the scoring department coming into this game.

Trey McGowens

The Pitt transfer didn't have to sit out after playing the previous two seasons in the ACC. McGowens averaged 11.5 and 11.6 points per game at Pittsburgh as a freshman and sophomore while racking up 1.9 steals per game in each year.

The Virginia native hasn't missed a beat production wise, and is still at that 11.5 point per game mark that he's had consistently in college. McGowens has significantly improved his three point shot at Nebraska, however. He's up to 41/2%, making as many three's per game on less attempts, and is keeping his scoring average even with almost two less total shots per game.

McGowens has been a double-digit scorer in five of their last six games, and one of those performances is including a 20-point effort against the Michigan State Spartans.

Two Questions

Can Minnesota's get good shots on offense, then make them?

When the Gophers shoot over 42% from the field, they're 11-0 and when they don't they're 0-7. Crazy how that works, right?

A consistent theme in losses this year for the Minnesota basketball team has been poor shot selection and poor shot making. Yeah ball-movement and player-movement off the ball has been pretty bad too, but players get inspired to move off the ball and make the extra pass when shots are going in. A lot of the time, shots are just not going in.

The lack of playmakers has put all of that on one player, and that's become a serious problem for Marcus Carr, his efficiency, and the effectiveness of the Gopher offense. When there's only one person that can create off the bounce, that person tends to bounce the rock a little too much. When things aren't going well, the ball stops flying from side to side and starts hammering up and down is when Minnesota looks like a bottom tier Big Ten team.

This is also a team that has fallen in love with the three point shot despite the stripe that stands 22 feet, 1¾ inches away from the basket constantly telling them she's not interested.

What can Minnesota do to get different, high-percentage looks in the offense? I really don't believe that they don't look for Brandon Johnson hunting his shot in the short corner/mid-post where he's comfortable facing up and attacking. He's a really effective midrange scorer, and his role as a pick-and-pop shooter has shown much since the Iowa game.

Can Nebraska win a game in the Big Ten this year?

The Gophers aren't playing well by any stretch of imagination. They've shot less than 41% from the field their last three games (all losses) and have double-digit turnovers in all of those games. At the same time, Nebraska is really bad.

The entire Big Ten conference excluding Nebraska can be found inside the top-75 programs in the country on KenPom. 11 are top-50 programs while the outliers are Michigan State (64), Northwestern (72), and, oh yeah, Nebraska (124). According to the advanced analytics site, the Cornhuskers have the 155th ranked offense in the country, the 103rd ranked defense in the country, and are projected to end Big Ten play 0-14 with no game higher than a 29% chance to win.

Their 10-point loss to Michigan State on Saturday was the closest Big Ten game that they've been in this year.

Minnesota has been struggling, but Nebraska clearly isn't ready to compete in this conference just yet under Fred Hoiberg. If they're going to win a game, the timing isn't bad. A struggling Gopher basketball team that is probably overlooking them is their next opponent, so if they're going to win a game this conference season, there may be no better time than now for that to happen.

One Prediction

This game is a must-win for Minnesota. They're probably in the tournament as of right now, but a loss to Nebraska would move them straight to the bubble with a lot of work to do down the stretch.

A fast start is desperately needed, then control needs to be maintained on both ends of the court for the entire game. Coach Pitino can't afford a bad day from his team. Energy, defense, and spreading the wealth offensively should be high on the list of priorities of this one against a sub-par Nebraska team.

I think Minnesota comes out like they have something to play for and take care of business at home. If Minnesota had squeaked one out against Rutgers, I'd be more concerned with the Gophers overlooking their opponent. Coming off three straight losses, I would expect they'll be ready to play.

Minnesota 83, Nebraska 72