Northwestern Wildcats (13-17, 5-14 Big Ten) at Minnesota Golden Gophers (14-16, 7-12 Big Ten)
Minneapolis; Saturday, 9 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Golden Gophers -3.5; over/under is 133.5
BOTTOM LINE: Northwestern visits Minnesota after Nick Martinelli scored 28 points in Northwestern’s 70-66 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers.
The Golden Gophers are 12-4 on their home court. Minnesota is 8-8 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents and averages 9.8 turnovers per game.
The Wildcats have gone 5-14 against Big Ten opponents. Northwestern ranks sixth in the Big Ten with 17.0 assists per game led by Jayden Reid averaging 4.9.
Minnesota scores 70.2 points per game, 2.2 fewer points than the 72.4 Northwestern gives up. Northwestern averages 73.4 points per game, 4.9 more than the 68.5 Minnesota allows to opponents.
The teams meet for the second time in conference play this season. Minnesota won 84-78 in the last matchup on Jan. 3. Cade Tyson led Minnesota with 24 points, and Martinelli led Northwestern with 26 points.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tyson is shooting 42.9% from beyond the arc with 2.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Golden Gophers, while averaging 19.7 points and 5.4 rebounds. Bobby Durkin is shooting 51.1% and averaging 13.5 points over the last 10 games.
Martinelli is averaging 22.7 points and 6.1 rebounds for the Wildcats. Reid is averaging 8.5 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Golden Gophers: 4-6, averaging 66.6 points, 23.8 rebounds, 15.4 assists, 5.8 steals and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.5 points per game.
Wildcats: 4-6, averaging 67.3 points, 23.0 rebounds, 15.4 assists, 6.8 steals and 3.9 blocks per game while shooting 44.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.8 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
