Fresh off of a win over Penn State, Minnesota travels to Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in a rematch from earlier in the season. The game tips at 7:30pm tonight on the Big Ten Network. After Minnesota ended their losing streak on Saturday, here are three keys to the game if they hope to stack up a second win in a row!
Keep Eric Curry Out Of Foul Trouble
Ohio State may not have a ton of height, but what they do have are strong and physical players in the post. Because of this, Eric Curry will be key on the defensive end of the floor. Eric Curry missed the matchup of this season, and because of this EJ Liddell, Zed Key, and Kyle Young shot an extremely high percentage in the paint. Despite this, Minnesota kept the game relatively close against a nationally ranked team. If Eric is able to stay in the game for big minutes, his presence on the defensive end will be key for Minnesota's chances to win.
Limit Second Chance Points
I know I say this a lot, but Minnesota has to limit Ohio State's offensive rebounds tonight. In their first meeting of the year, Ohio State scored just about a third of their points on second chance buckets. They had 27 second chance points compared to just 6 from Minnesota, which was a key difference in Ohio State's 11 point win. Eric Curry's presence should help with this as he has the size to put a body on one of Ohio State's bigs, but it's not just his responsibility. Charlie Daniels has to rebound better in his minutes, and I think that Sean Sutherlin and Payton Willis have the potential to impact the game on the glass as bigger guards as well.
Impact Off The Bench
After a strong start to the season, it seems like Sean Sutherlin has quieted down a bit in conference play. He still shoots a high percentage from the field at 51%, but just doesn't seem to get many touches. I'd like to see him come in the game aggressive and get to the rim where he can either finish or try to get some of OSU's better players into foul trouble. He has that explosiveness that Minnesota lacks as a team, so he can provide a spark off the bench. Outside of him, no one on Minnesota scores more than 2.2 ppg off the bench, as this is a very limited team in terms of depth. With Eric Curry out in the first meeting of these two teams, all three of the post players on Minnesota's bench got minutes, so it will be interesting to see if Thompson will get more minutes alongside of Charlie Daniels in this one.
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