Purdue Basketball Preview: Game 14 — @ Minnesota to resume Big Ten play

MINNEAPOLIS — After an 8-3 non-conference season, 20th-ranked Purdue debuts in 2025 by resuming Big Ten play in Williams Arena, where Minnesota awaits.

DETAILS: Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 | 8 p.m. ET | TV: FS1 (Cory Provus, Jordan Taylor) | Radio: Purdue Radio Network
PURDUE (9-4, 1-1 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS
MINNESOTA (8-5, 0-2 B1G): ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATS

Team	AP	Coaches	NET	KenPom	KenPom Win%
Purdue	20	22	38	27	72%
Minnesota	—	—	153	109	28%

A FEW THINGS ABOUT PURDUE

• After dropping games at top-15 Marquette and at Penn State in December conference play, the Boilermakers are looking for their first road win of the season.

• After missing the Toledo game with a sprained foot, center Will Berg has returned to practice and is available, though his minutes were up and down prior to the injury anyway.

• Purdue is one of 12 teams sitting at 1-1 after two Big Ten games.

• Wing Myles Colvin has made just one of his past 14 three-point attempts, a slide Purdue would very much like for him to break out of as Big Ten play returns.

• Purdue’s won six of its past seven meetings with Minnesota with one-sided wins in each of its past two trips to the Barn.

• Defensive rebounding hasn’t been a strength for Purdue, as opponents are retrieving 32 percent of their misses.

• Coming off a career-high 34 points vs. Toledo, Braden Smith needs just three more to hit the thousand-point mark for his career.

ABOUT THIS GAME

• Minnesota had some momentum last season, then fell victim to the portal and NIL worlds, as Texas A&M grabbed big man Pharrell Payne and Texas Tech took guard Elijah Hawkins. Further, star freshman Cam Christie turned pro earlier than anyone could have expected. The key departures set the Gophers’ rebuild under Ben Johnson back considerably.

• Minnesota did hang on to well-traveled veteran Dawson Garcia, one of the top players in the Big Ten. The 23-year-old 4/5 man, formerly of Marquette and North Carolina, is averaging 19.1 points and 7.4 rebounds and has had big games against Purdue before, leveraging his ability to shoot three, score inside and drive from the high post against bigger defenders. Garcia scored 24 against Purdue in Mackey Arena, as the Gophers really pushed the second-ranked Boilermakers on their home floor.

• Senior guard Mike Mitchell averages 13.3 points and shoots 49 percent from three on robust volume.

• In December, Minnesota fell 90-72 to Michigan State at home and 82-67 at Indiana, making it one of three teams to open Big Ten play 0-2. Wisconsin and Washington are the other two.

• Minnesota is a bad shooting team, at just 30.5 percent from three-point range and an atrocious 64.9 percent at the foul line.

The oddity there is that the Gophers’ top two scorers are excellent foul shooters and good three-point shooters. It’s everyone else that’s the problem. Its two highest-volume three-point shooters are shooting 21.5 and 22.2 percent, respectively. Same at the foul line, where Minnesota has two its highest-volume players shooting 44 percent and 35 percent.

• On average, Minnesota gets outrebounded and hasn’t shown much bite on the offensive glass, where Purdue is sometimes vulnerable.

THREE KEYS FOR PURDUE

STOP THE DRIBBLE	DAWSON GARCIA	TURNOVERS
The New Year affords Purdue a chance to show improvement in this pivotal area. It has to do a better job on the ball.	He’s going to score. Purdue has to make things difficult on him and not let him live at the foul line.	This is how Purdue gets beat, but really it’s only been a problem against certain types of teams. Nevertheless, Minnesota is not great offensively; Purdue doesn’t need to offer assistance.

GOLDANDBLACK.COM PREDICTION: PURDUE 77, MINNESOTA 68

Our feeling here is that Purdue’s fine, despite taking some losses to this point. But now’s the time for the Boilermakers to prove it. It’s hard times at Minnesota again and here’s guessing this won’t be too daunting an environment.