The Minnesota Golden Gophers are playing with confidence and it is paying off with back-to-back conference wins against a top-25 ranked Michigan team and a really good Iowa team in Iowa City earlier this week.
Now, the Gophers will face another challenge, the No. 15 Oregon Ducks at Williams Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Ducks enter Saturday afternoon's game with a 16-3 record, all three losses coming in conference play. They also hold a 5-3 record against Big Ten opponents.
Last time out, the Ducks defeated Washington 82-71, a strong bounce-back performance after falling to Purdue 65-58 last Saturday. They also dropped conference games to UCLA (73-71) and Illinois (109-77). Notably, all three conference losses for Oregon have come at home. On the road this season, they own a 5-0 record, including a neutral-site game against Stanford in late December.
The Ducks are an interesting team as they're not overly dominant offensively, owning the 91st-best scoring offense this season and their defense isn't a smothering one either, their 69.9 points allowed per game ranks 129th. They're just an all-around strong fundamental program.
They're led by senior center Nathan Bittle, averaging 13.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Jackson Shelstad is averaging 12.6 points and senior guard TJ Bamba is averaging 10.2 points per game.
Oregon is shooting a solid 46.5% from the floor this season. They're a middle-of-the-pack three-point shooting team, at 34.2% for the year, and they shoot 75.2% from the free-throw line.
How to Watch - Minnesota vs Oregon
WHEN: Saturday, January 25, 2025 - 3:07 pm. CT
WHERE: Williams Arena
TELEVISION: BTN (Jack Kizer (play-by-play) and Shon Morris (analyst)
RADIO: KFAN 100.3 FM or iHeart App (Mike Grimm, Al Nolen)
Series History
This will be the ninth time that Oregon and Minnesota will meet on the hardwood, the Gophers own a 5-3 advantage all-time including 2-0 at Williams Arena. The last time these two programs met came over 20 years ago, a 90-81 loss for the Gophers in Eugene. This will be the Ducks' first trip to Minneapolis since December 10, 2001, with the Gophers winning that affair 82-75.
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