Gophers Host Michigan State on Monday

Game 21   Minnesota Golden Gophers (14-6, 6-3) vs. Michigan State Spartans (15-6, 8-2) LOCATION  Williams Arena / Minneapolis , Minn. DATE / TIME:  Monday, Feb. 2  / 7 p.m. TELEVISION:  Big Ten Network Mark Neely (Play-by-play), Mary Murphy (Color Analyst) RADIO / WEBCAST:   KBEM 88.5 FM  / Gopher Radio Network / gophersports.com Corbu Stathes (Play-by-play), Lynnette Sjoquist (Color Analyst) Golden Gopher Watch List — Feb. 2, 2009 • Golden Gophers Host Michigan State - Minnesota plays host to Michigan State on a rare Monday night contest on Feb. 2. The Golden Gophers are coming off an eight-day break including a bye from Big Ten play last Thursday. Minnesota is 14-6 overall and 6-3 in Conference play. The Gophers edged Northwestern, 43-40, in their last game on Jan. 25.  • BTN Makes Visit to Williams Arena - The Gophers' game with Michigan State is the first visit of the Big Ten Network to Williams Arena this season. Calling the action will be Mark Neely and Mary Murphy. • Big Ten Midway Point - Minnesota posted a 6-3 record in the first half of its Big Ten schedule, equaling that of a year ago. The Gophers went on to finish 11-7 in the Big Ten in 2007-08. • Protecting Our House - Only Minnesota (4-0) and Indiana (5-0) are undefeated on their home court this season in Big Ten play. The top five teams in the Big Ten combine for a 19-4 record on their home courts. Gophers Host Michigan State Minnesota plays host to Michigan State on a rare Monday night contest. The Golden Gophers are coming off an eight-day break including a bye from Big Ten play last Thursday. Minnesota is 14-6 overall and 6-3 in Conference play. The Gophers edged Northwestern, 43-40, in their last game on Jan. 25. The Spartans bring a six-game winning streak and 15-6 record (8-2 Big Ten) into Monday's contest. BTN Comes to Williams The Gophers' game with Michigan State is the first visit of the Big Ten Network to Williams Arena this season. Of the Gophers' 11 televised games, all but three are on the road. BTN will return for home games versus Ohio State and Purdue. Calling the action will be Mark Neely and Mary Murphy. Streak Busters Get Another Chance Minnesota has ended the two longest winning streaks in the Big Ten this season. The Gophers will have another chance on Monday, when Michigan State comes with a a Big Ten-best six-game winning streak. The Gophers ended Indiana 's nine-game winning streak on Jan. 8 with a 70-62 win in Williams Arena. Minnesota then halted Ohio State 's eight-game winning streak, defeating the Buckeye by a 59-56 score in Columbus on Jan 15. Gophers See Spartans Twice in February The Big Ten schedule always holds a few challenging twists and turns. The Gophers will have seen every team in the Big Ten after playing Michigan State . Thanks to an uneven number of teams, it's unusual for a team to play their way through all 10 Big Ten opponents in succession, without playing a team twice in that span. The Gophers will, however, have the challenge of meeting the Spartans twice in the month of February or in the second half of the Big Ten schedule. Goldy's Favorite Holiday - Groundhog Day In the world of useless trivia, Minnesota is 4-5 when playing on Groundhog Day (Feb. 2), Goldy Gophers' favorite holiday. But since the Bill Murray's film Groundhog Day was released in 1993, the Gophers are 3-1, ironically the only loss coming to the Spartans in 1996. The following stats use the one and only Punxsutawney Phil.             According to legend, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring. 1979-80 Kansas L, 72-93            S 1981-82 at Drake            L, 60-87            S 1985-86 at Indiana           L, 67-80            NS 1989-90 Northwestern     L, 81-99            NS 1991-92 Illinois    W, 82-70           S 1995-96 Michigan State  L, 61-81            NS 1996-97 Ohio  State          W, 66-64           NS 2002-03 Northwestern     W, 67-56           S 2005-06 at Illinois            W, 64-48           S Gophers' Record When Phil Sees Shadow: 3-2 Gophers' Record When Phil Does Not See Shadow: 1-3 Solid at the Midway Point Minnesota posted a 6-3 record in the first half of its Big Ten schedule, equaling that of a year ago. The 2008-09 season is just the second campaign with a 18-game Conference slate. As Minnesota looks ahead to the second half of the Big Ten season, the schedule is favorable for the Gophers in that they will play five games at home and four on the road. How Time Flies Monday's contest is the 21st game of the Gopher season. Only four Big Ten road trips remain on the Gophers' schedule: Penn State (Feb. 5), Michigan (Feb. 15), Northwestern (Feb. 23) and Michigan State (Feb. 26). Protecting Your Home Court To maintain a position among the upper echelon of the Big Ten standings, defending one's home court is of utmost importance. Only Minnesota (4-0) and Indiana (5-0) are undefeated on their home court this season in Big Ten play. And the one arena the Gophers do not visit this season... Indiana 's Assembly Hall. The top five teams in the Big Ten standings (Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue, Michigan State and Minnesota) are a combined 19-4 (82.6 percent) in home Big Ten games in 2008-09. A Win is a Win The Gophers' last outing was most importantly a victory. The low-scoring 43-40 outcome did make it necessary to have a record book handy.             The 43 points scored by the Gophers is the lowest winning total in 35 years. The combined total of 83 ( Minnesota , 43 – Northwestern 40) is the lowest combined score in the NCAA era for Minnesota . The previous low was 94 points, which occurred twice, the last being a 63-31 Gopher loss at Purdue on Feb. 12, 2005. The previous combined scored at home in Williams Arena was 97 points when Minnesota defeated St. Francis, 64-33, on March 19, 2005 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.             The 40 points allowed is the lowest this season and the lowest point total scored against the Gophers since Chicago State managed just 34 points in a 72-34 loss in Williams Arena on Dec. 2, 2006. The total is the lowest the Gophers have allowed in Big Ten since Northwestern scored just 33 points (71-33) in Williams Arena in the regular-season finale of the 2005-06 season. Gophers Grab 16th Straight Win Over Northwestern The Gophers extended their winning streak over Northwestern to 16 games on Jan. 25 with a 43-40 victory. The 16-game winning streak is Minnesota 's longest over a Big Ten opponent. The next longest winning streak against a Big Ten team is eight games and was compiled once against Iowa , Michigan , Purdue and Wisconsin . The last of those streaks, however, ended in 1986. Gophers Continue to Perform in Classroom Minnesota added the 2008 Fall semester to the list of terms where the Gophers compiled a team grade point average of over 3.0. Last fall, the Gophers earned a collective GPA of 3.109. Even more impressive is the cumulative GPA of this team - 3.216. The Gophers have earned a 3.0 in every semesters of Pam Borton coaching tenure. Emily Fox, Brittany McCoy and Katie Ohm are nominees for Academic All-American honors. Future Stars, Impact Players Today Minnesota has two freshmen in Jackie Voigt and Kiara Buford who have played their way into consideration for Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Voigt is one of two freshmen ( Ohio State 's Samantha Prahaulis the other) who have started every game this season. Voigt is the Big Ten's leading rookie rebounder pulling down 5.8 rebounds a game. She also contributes 6.7 points a game in an average of 29.4 minutes per contest.             Buford has emerged as an important player off the bench for the Gophers and already should be counted among the best sixth players in the Big Ten. Buford is one of the top freshman scorers in Conference play, as well as one the top non-starting scorers, contributing 7.1 points a game. Overall, Buford is playing an average of 20.1 minutes a game, scoring 7.0 points an outing. Defense, Defense and More Defense The Big Ten is known as a physical league. Starting the Conference season where experienced coaches know so much about their Big Ten opponents, the statistics are revealing just how important team defense is this season. Only one team, Indiana at 67.7 is averaging over 65 points per Big Ten game. Amazingly over half the teams - six ( Illinois , Michigan , Minnesota , Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin ) - are averaging less than 60 points a game this season in Conference play. And, it's just tenths of a point that put Michigan State (60.8) and Penn State (60.2) above that group.             Case in point - in Thursday's action, the 10 Big Ten teams in action (all but Minnesota ) combined to average just 53.2 points a game. Scouting Michigan State Michigan State has won six straight games, the longest current winning streak in the Big Ten. The Spartans' two losses have come to teams at the top of the Big Ten, home versus Indiana and at Ohio State . One of their best wins was an overtime victory at Purdue. The Spartans put a balanced and experience squad on the court. Junior Alisa Jefferson is back after missing the 2007-08 season with an ACL and is leading the team in scoring at 11.6 points a game. Junior Alyssa DeHaan checks in at 11.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocks a contest.  The Minnesota / Michigan State Series Michigan State leads the series with Minnesota by a 32-17 margin. The Gophers swept the series with the Spartans last season, but lost to to Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans are the only team to hold a winning record versus the Gophers in Williams Arena (3-2) since Minnesota moved back into The Barn in 2002.