The Minnesota Golden Gophers head into Wednesday’s matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers with a chance for a big time upset. Minnesota currently sits at 7-11 in Big Ten play and are fighting for a spot in the conference tournament. On the other side, Wisconsin sits at 12-6 in conference play and needs the win to ensure a better seed in both the Big Ten and NCAA tournament.
In a year of ups and downs for the Gophers they are left fighting for a top 15 spot in the conference to make the trip to Indianapolis. Needing one more win over either Wisconsin at home or Rutgers on the road the team will hope to get the job done Wednesday instead of leaving things up to Sunday. The win would secure a spot in the tournament as the Gophers have the head to head tiebreaker over both Iowa and USC.
However, the 12 ranked Badgers will have other plans Wednesday. The team is led by guard John Tonje who is averaging 19.2 points per game. Guards John Blackwell and Max Klesment also provide high caliber offense for the team. Down low the Badgers are also hard to beat as Nolan Winter and Steven Crowl average over five rebounds and ten points a piece. The two big men can easily wear teams out as second chance points are always on the table.
The Badgers have been a bit of a surprise across the Big Ten, however the evenness of the conference has made surprises like these seem ordinary. To stop the strong Badger offense the gophers must shoot well. That means big shooting games for Minnesota’s Lu’cye Patterson and Mike Mitchell Jr, especially from three point range will be almost a must. Outside of the top guards, big minutes will have to be put up from Issac Ausuma and Femi Odukale. Although stellar hustle play will be a must from Femi, look for him to light up the barn with a big dunk early.
The piece that must show up for a chance will be Gophers forward Dawson Garcia. The forward averages 19.3 points per game which is good for 32nd in the nation. He is also a presence on the glass averaging 7.5 rebounds per game. Look to him for a big game as his basketball career is quickly coming to an end. The senior will be playing his last game at the barn and probably his last game against a ranked opponent. On top of that, the Gophers will honor Garcia for senior night before the game. With emotions high, the hope is that Dawson comes to play.
The final game changer comes in the form of Frank Mitchell. The big man has proven to the conference that when he is on he is a defensive presence. With the pure size that Wisconsin has inside Frank will be expected to give heavy minutes as rebounding will be needed. Although he does not have much of a force on offense, his defensive style and play may be enough to knock the Badger big’s off kilter.
A lot of energy will be in the air in a final home game on top of a rivalry game for the Gophers. If the team shows up and is up to the challenge they just might be able to get to the Badgers. Although it feels foolish to put so much hype on a regular season game that could lead to a low conference tournament seed it is the Gophers only true path in March. With a win Wednesday and a Big Ten tournament win the Gophers would be headed to the big dance for the first time since 2019.
