BleedGopher
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per State News:
With second-seeded Michigan State set to face tenth-seeded Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday, the rematch between the two Big Ten rivals may be decided by the big men inside.
For MSU, junior forward Nick Ward will play in his fifth game back from the left hand hairline fracture he suffered Feb. 17. He will likely come off the bench in relief of senior forward Kenny Goins and sophomore forward Xavier Tillman. Ward has not played more than 14 minutes since returning in the Big Ten tournament, but MSU coach Tom Izzo said he expects him to play more Saturday to match up with Minnesota’s bigs.
Ward scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds to go along with Tillman’s seven points and four boards in MSU’s 79-55 victory over the Golden Gophers on Feb. 9 in East Lansing.
In five matchups against Minnesota over the course of his career, Ward is averaging 16.2 points and 9.4 rebounds.
“I just think it’ll help our team,” Goins said, of Ward playing more minutes. “When we were rotating me, (Tillman), and Nick (Ward), we were all a little fresher, and able to perform a little better without any type of fatigue. Nick is a helluva player and him being back in the rotation in general is gonna help us.”
The Gophers play two traditional big men, a bit of a rarity in today’s era of pace-and-space college basketball.
Senior forward Jordan Murphy is second to Ohio State’s Jerry Lucas (1959-62) on the all-time Big Ten rebounding list, at 1,306 career rebounds, and is averaging 14.9 points and 11.3 rebounds this season en route to being named to the All-Big Ten first team. Freshman center Daniel Oturu is averaging 10.9 points and 7.1 rebounds.
“He's a rebounding machine, you know, and I love rebounders,” Izzo said of Murphy. “He never used to be able to shoot the ball over his left shoulder. He was a right hander who shot it over his right shoulder which was weird. I think he's developing his game. I think (Minnesota coach Richard Pitino) and he both deserve credit for that.”
https://statenews.com/article/2019/03/mbb-ncaat-minnesota-big-preview
Go Gophers!!
With second-seeded Michigan State set to face tenth-seeded Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday, the rematch between the two Big Ten rivals may be decided by the big men inside.
For MSU, junior forward Nick Ward will play in his fifth game back from the left hand hairline fracture he suffered Feb. 17. He will likely come off the bench in relief of senior forward Kenny Goins and sophomore forward Xavier Tillman. Ward has not played more than 14 minutes since returning in the Big Ten tournament, but MSU coach Tom Izzo said he expects him to play more Saturday to match up with Minnesota’s bigs.
Ward scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds to go along with Tillman’s seven points and four boards in MSU’s 79-55 victory over the Golden Gophers on Feb. 9 in East Lansing.
In five matchups against Minnesota over the course of his career, Ward is averaging 16.2 points and 9.4 rebounds.
“I just think it’ll help our team,” Goins said, of Ward playing more minutes. “When we were rotating me, (Tillman), and Nick (Ward), we were all a little fresher, and able to perform a little better without any type of fatigue. Nick is a helluva player and him being back in the rotation in general is gonna help us.”
The Gophers play two traditional big men, a bit of a rarity in today’s era of pace-and-space college basketball.
Senior forward Jordan Murphy is second to Ohio State’s Jerry Lucas (1959-62) on the all-time Big Ten rebounding list, at 1,306 career rebounds, and is averaging 14.9 points and 11.3 rebounds this season en route to being named to the All-Big Ten first team. Freshman center Daniel Oturu is averaging 10.9 points and 7.1 rebounds.
“He's a rebounding machine, you know, and I love rebounders,” Izzo said of Murphy. “He never used to be able to shoot the ball over his left shoulder. He was a right hander who shot it over his right shoulder which was weird. I think he's developing his game. I think (Minnesota coach Richard Pitino) and he both deserve credit for that.”
https://statenews.com/article/2019/03/mbb-ncaat-minnesota-big-preview
Go Gophers!!