Indiana Game Preview

Minnesota Golden Gophers (18-5, 6-5) Vs. Indiana Hoosiers (6-16, 1-9)

I saw a post by a Gopher fan on CBS Sports that said with the loss to Ohio State this game became a must win. What riveting insight. Whenever the last place team comes into your house it has to be a must win game. When would it ever be ok to lose this game? That said Indiana is coming in at a perfect time with the Gophers coming off two tough losses. Here is Indiana's resume:

Wins to Showcase:

• Vs. TCU 66 - 56
• Vs. Iowa 68 - 60

Losses to Hide From:

• Vs. Lipscomb 69 - 74
• Vs. Northeastern 42 - 55

Previous Result

• Gophers 67, Hoosiers 63

The news gets even better because Indiana's leading scorer Devan Dumes has been suspended indefinitely for throwing 3 elbows in the game against Michigan State. He scored 19 points against the Gophers in the previous meeting and is averaging 13.8 ppg on the season. Taking his points out the Hoosiers only average 47.7 ppg. The Gophers conversely average 69.1 ppg. This should be a cake walk. The previous game was close because the Gophers played terrible but it was obvious still that Indiana does not have the talent to compete in the Big Ten. The do always play hard and will give their best effort but they don't award victories soley based on effort.

Interesting Things to Watch

• Blake Hoffarber: We saw a glimpse of the old Blake Hoffarber in the last game with him busting out for 19 points. It was always thought he would just need to shoot out of the slump and it will be interesting to see if he has come out the other side. An unathletic team like Indiana would seem like a good opponent to keep the good times rolling.
• Ralph Sampson: This should be a good matchup for Ralph as evidenced by the 13 and 8 he got against them last time. I would look for a possible double-double as he looks to get back on the right track after back to back unimpressive games.

Prediction

This game should not be close as while Indiana brings the effort it is harder to get that going without the home crowd behind you. They have played teams close at home but have been blown out on the road( 28 at Michigan State, 24 at Ohio State and 31 at Illinois). I don't look for a blowout of quite that proportion but this should remind us more of the Non-Conference schedule. In fact here is a list of teams we played in the non-conference that have a higher RPI than Indiana's 181 : Colorado State (168), Bowling Green (149), Cornell (106), North Dakota State (95), and Virginia (100)

Gophers 75, Indiana 59