The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball program will play their final non-conference game of the 2024-25 regular season on Sunday afternoon when they welcome the MEAC's Morgan State Bears to Williams Arena.
The Bears are in their second season under head coach Kevin Broadus. After going 11-20 a season ago, Morgan State is off to a 6-9 start this season. Notably of their six wins this season, four have come against non-Division I opponents. Their only Division I wins have come against NJIT (81-69) and Campbell (86-76).
Entering Sunday, the Bears have lost three of their last four games with losses to Bowling Green (102-81), Xavier (119-58), and Iowa State (99-72). The Gophers are only the third team this season that Morgan State will face that is ranked within the KenPom 200. To go along with their losses to Xavier and Iowa State, the Bears also fell to Longwood earlier this season 84-66.
How to Watch - Minnesota vs Morgan State
WHEN: Saturday, December 21, 2024 - 1:00 p.m. CT
WHERE: Williams Arena (Minneapolis, FL)
TELEVISION: Peacock (Steve Schlanger (play-by-play) and Jess Settles (analyst)
RADIO: KFAN 100.3 FM (Mike Grimm, Al Nolen)
Series History
This will be the second meeting of all time between the Golden Gophers and Bears. They last met in 2009, a 94-64 win for the Gophers. All-time Minnesota is 6-0 against MEAC conference opponents.
RANKINGS COMPARISON
STAT COMPARISON
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS
PREDICTION: Minnesota 92 - Morgan State 65
We're going to be bullish on the Gophers entering Sunday's game. While the Gophers have been playing some rough basketball since Thanksgiving, this is a Morgan State team that they should outclass. The Bears have struggled against a majority of their schedule this season which is mostly made up of sub-Kenpom 250 teams. When considering the talent disparity, Sunday's matchup really shouldn't be much of a contest. if the Gophers can avoid a slow start offensively on Sunday, which based on their history this season, is a tough task, this is a game they should easily cruise to victory in. Even with a slow start, look for the Gophers to win this game by at least 15+ points but a margin of victory up to 30+ points is pretty reasonable in our opinion.
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