How to watch No. 22 Ohio State vs. Minnesota: Preview, game time, live streaming online
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Ohio State will look to stay undefeated in the Big Ten when they square off with Minnesota at in New York City at Madison Square Garden today.
With the
Big Ten Tournament being held at Madison Square Garden in a little over a month, Ohio State will get a test run in “The World’s Most Famous Arena” this afternoon. The Buckeyes will be looking to add to their undefeated start to Big Ten play, but they’ll have to take on a Minnesota team whose backs are against the wall after losing four of their last five games.
Ohio State will be making their 34th overall appearance at Madison Square Garden with today’s game against Minnesota. The Buckeyes have posted a 21-12 all-time record at MSG, with an 11-6 record in the current structure. The last time Ohio State played at Madison Square Garden was back in December 2013, when the Buckeyes defeated Notre Dame 64-61 in the Gotham Classic.
On Wednesday night, Ohio State held off a late charge from Northwestern to defeat the Wildcats 71-65. Northwestern had trimmed Ohio State’s lead to just three points with 45 seconds to play, but
C.J. Jackson hit three of four free throws in the last 30 seconds of the game to erase any doubt.
After scoring at least 20 points in four straight games,
Keita Bates-Diop struggled to find his shot in the win over Northwestern, scoring just 10 points. The back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Week hit just four the 12 shots he attempted, but Ohio State got key contributions off the bench from
Micah Potter, who led the team with 13 points, which was a season-high for the sophomore.
Ohio State has a 85-57 record all-time against Minnesota, and the Buckeyes have won both neutral site matchups against the Golden Gophers. Ohio State and Minnesota split their meetings last season. The Golden Gophers beat the Buckeyes 78-68 in Minneapolis in early January, while later in the month Ohio State beat Minnesota 78-72 in Columbus behind 19 points each from
Trevor Thompson and
Marc Loving.
The last time Ohio State was ranked heading into a meeting with Minnesota was back in 2015, when the Buckeyes were also ranked 22nd in the country. The Buckeyes were able to squeak out a 74-72 win in overtime over the Golden Gophers. Minnesota’s last victory over Ohio State when the Buckeyes were ranked came a year earlier in Minneapolis, when the Golden Gophers upset the 11th ranked Buckeyes, 63-53.
Early in the year it looked as if Minnesota would be one of the teams competing for the Big Ten title, as the Golden Gophers won their first seven games of the season. Since winning their first seven games of the year, Minnesota has posted just a 7-7 record.
The Golden Gophers halted a three-game losing streak on Monday with a 95-84 win over Penn State in overtime in State College, but Minnesota couldn’t build any momentum, losing at Maryland on Thursday night 77-66. The Golden Gophers went into halftime trailing the Terrapins by just a point, but they lost touch with Maryland in the second half, falling to 3-5 in Big Ten play.
Much like Ohio State, Minnesota is wrapping up a stretch of three games away from home in just under a week. Minnesota is playing three Big Ten games in six days for the first time since 1991. The last time the Golden Gophers played three straight Big Ten games on the road was back in 2002.
This year marks Richard Pitino’s fifth season at Minnesota, and it looked like the program was on the rise after last year. Pitino’s Golden Gophers posted a 24-10 record and made the
NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. After a strong start to the 2017-18 campaign, the program has been mired in turmoil after the suspension of reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Reggie Lynch. Along with the suspension of Lynch, Minnesota is dealing with a shoulder injury to
Amir Coffey, who was averaging 14.1 points per game this year.
Numbers to know
4
Keita Bates-Diop needs just four points to become the 55th Buckeye to record 1,000 points during his career. Not only will the four points allow Bates-Diop to join the 1,000 point club, but he will also become the 28th Buckeye to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds when he scores his 1,000th point. On Wednesday night, Bates-Diop grabbed eight rebounds against Northwestern, giving him exactly 500 rebounds for his career.
7-0
Chris Holtmann joined some select company on Wednesday night with the win over Northwestern, as he became the first first-year Big Ten coach since Iowa’s Sam Barry in 1922-23 to start his Big Ten career 7-0. The 7-0 start also marked Ohio State’s first 7-0 start in conference since the 2010-11 season, when they started Big Ten play 11-0.
70
The key for Ohio State is to get to 70 points. With Wednesday night’s 71-65 win over Northwestern, the Buckeyes are now 15-1 this season when they score at least 70 points. The only game in which Ohio State didn’t win after crossing the 70-point plateau this season came in the CBS Sports Classic, where they fell to North Carolina, 86-72. Aside from the 68-46 win over Rutgers on Sunday, the last time Ohio State failed to score 70 points in a game came in the 79-65 loss to Clemson in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Cast of characters
Ohio State
C.J. Jackson
With his 12 points in the victory over Northwestern, Jackson has now scored at least 10 points in 15 games this year, and has reached double figures in 14 of the last 17 games. After dealing with some turnover issues earlier in the season, Jackson has improved his ball security, dishing out 33 assists while only turning the basketball over 11 times in the last six games.
Jae’Sean Tate
By scoring 12 points last game, Tate was able to leapfrog Jim Cleamons and
Marc Loving on Ohio State’s scoring list, and now Tate has 1,344 career points. Tate has now hit double figures in scoring in five of his last six games, with the only time he failed to reach that mark coming in the win on Sunday against Rutgers. This afternoon’s matchup will mark Tate’s fifth game against the Golden Gophers in his career.
Minnesota
Jordan Murphy
On a shorthanded Golden Gophers squad, Jordan Murphy is shouldering a heavy load right now. In Thursday’s loss to Maryland, Murphy registered 19 points and 14 rebounds, marking his 19th double-double of the season, which leads the country. The junior from Texas is leading the Big Ten with 12.1 rebounds per game, and he passed the 800 career rebound mark on Thursday night, putting him in seventh place on Minnesota’s all-time list.
Nate Mason
At least Murphy is getting some help from senior guard
Nate Mason, who is second on the Golden Gophers in scoring, averaging 15.6 points per game. Mason is a steadying hand for Minnesota, as he is fourth in the Big Ten with a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. Mason’s 25 points in Monday’s overtime win over Penn State were a team-high.
How to watch:
Game time: 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: Big Ten Network
Radio: 97.1 WBNS-FM
Streaming: BTN2Go
Know your enemy: The Daily Gopher
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