It's that time of year again. It's time for life on the road in the Big Ten.
After two-straight home league games to open Big Ten play, 22nd-ranked Ohio State travels for the first time this conference season when it takes on unranked Minnesota tonight.
| WHO | WHERE | WHEN | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
| MINNESOTA (11-4, 0-2) | Williams Arena | 9 p.m. | ESPN |
The Golden Gophers (11-4, 0-2) have dropped their first two Big Ten games of the year, falling to both Purdue and Maryland on the road. They will return home for the first time in league play.
The Buckeyes (12-3, 1-1) bounced back from a tough conference-opening loss to Iowa with a dominant second-half performance over Illinois in a 77-61 win.
"It's very difficult," Ohio State point guard Shannon Scott said of life on the road in the Big Ten. "As we learned from last year every game is a tough game, there's no road game we went to last year where easily won the game."
Opponent Breakdown
Before losing their first two Big Ten games of the season, the Golden Gophers had won eight consecutive contests. Minnesota is also yet to lose a game at home this season. Its four losses — Louisville, St. John's, Purdue and Michigan — all came away from the friendly confines of Williams Arena.
The Gophers bring a well-balanced offensive attack to the table with four guys averaging double figures on the season. Leading the way is junior guard Carlos Morris, who averages a team-high 13.1 points per game and grabs nearly four rebounds per contest.
But Minnesota also gets significant offensive contributions from senior big man Maurice Walker (12.5 points, 5.9 rebounds); senior guard Andre Hollins (12.5 points, 43 percent from 3-point range); and freshman guard Nate Mason (10.2 points).
The Gophers average 80.4 points per game as a team and and third in the country at 18.9 assists per game. Minnesota also forces opponents into 20-plus turnovers per game.
"They don't play a ton of guys so guys are getting more minutes in terms of scoring opportunities," Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said of the Gophers. "That's kind of the scary part and that's why I think they're a really good team because they do have a lot of different guys that can get it going at any part of a game."
Buckeye Breakdown
After almost exclusively playing a 2-3 zone all year, the Buckeyes switched to a man-to-man defense for the final 24 minutes against Illinois. After Ohio State made that switch, it outscored the Illini 51-27 the rest of the way.
But will the Buckeyes continue to play man-to-man defense going forward?
"It's going to be a surprise," Matta joked.
Should Ohio State continue to play man, its rotation will likely shrink. Four of the Buckeyes' starters — Scott, Marc Loving, D'Angelo Russell and Sam Thompson — all played 30-plus minutes against Illinois, while players who had been key contributors early in the season like Kam Williams and Jae'Sean Tate sat for the majority of the second half.
"I think it had to deal with the game really and what we needed at the time," Scott said. "If we're struggling scoring we're gonna have different guys on the court, if we need stops we're gonna have different guys on the court so it just depends on the situation that we're in."
The key for the Buckeyes, though, is Russell. The freshman guard from Louisville finally played a good game against a quality opponent for the first time this season after he struggled in a big way against Louisville, North Carolina and Iowa. Russell went for 22 points and four assists against the Illini, while playing all 40 minutes.
How It'll Play Out
If Ohio State really wants to contend for a Big Ten championship or even for the No. 2 spot behind Wisconsin, these are the kind of games it has to win.
Protecting home court in Big Ten play has proved vital to winning league titles over recent years. The Buckeyes failed to do that when they lost their home-opening conference game to the Hawkeyes last Tuesday. But to win conference titles, you also have to go on the road and win some games.
Ohio State has the better team and should be able to win this game, but as we all know life on the road in the Big Ten can be a tricky thing sometimes.
"This year, we haven't won on the road yet," Scott said. "We know it's going to be tough for us but we understand that, as well."
