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Northwestern Wildcats (15-6, 6-4 Big Ten) at Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten)
Minneapolis; Saturday, 2 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota hosts the Northwestern Wildcats after Dawson Garcia scored 20 points in Minnesota’s 83-74 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions.
The Golden Gophers have gone 11-3 at home. Minnesota ranks sixth in the Big Ten in rebounding averaging 37.4 rebounds. Garcia leads the Golden Gophers with 7.1 boards.
The Wildcats are 6-4 against Big Ten opponents. Northwestern is eighth in the Big Ten scoring 32.7 points per game in the paint led by Boo Buie averaging 7.0.
Minnesota makes 47.8% of its shots from the field this season, which is 2.8 percentage points higher than Northwestern has allowed to its opponents (45.0%). Northwestern averages 8.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.8 more made shots on average than the 5.5 per game Minnesota gives up.
The Golden Gophers and Wildcats match up Saturday for the first time in Big Ten play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Elijah Hawkins is averaging 8.5 points, 7.7 assists and two steals for the Golden Gophers. Garcia is averaging 17.4 points and 7.1 rebounds over the past 10 games for Minnesota.
Buie is averaging 18.8 points and 5.3 assists for the Wildcats. Brooks Barnhizer is averaging 15.5 points over the last 10 games for Northwestern.
LAST 10 GAMES: Golden Gophers: 6-4, averaging 74.6 points, 35.6 rebounds, 18.6 assists, 6.6 steals and 4.6 blocks per game while shooting 47.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.4 points per game.
Wildcats: 6-4, averaging 78.3 points, 27.8 rebounds, 16.4 assists, 6.8 steals and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 49.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 77.4 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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