Preview: Stanford Men’s Basketball heads to Palm Desert to battle Minnesota
On Thanksgiving Day, Stanford men’s basketball will take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert, California. Tipoff is set for 6:30 PM PT on CBS Sports Network. Stanford comes in at 4-1 overall while Minnesota comes in at 4-2.
Last time out: Stanford had a disappointing 77-69 loss to Seattle on Friday, November 21st.
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On Minnesota: The Golden Gophers have a new head coach in Niko Medved, so it’s a new era in the Twin Cities. Medved was previously at Colorado State and is a Minnesota alum, so he’s returning to his alma mater. The Gophers have wins over North Dakota State, North Dakota, Gardner-Webb, Alcorn State, Green Bay (OT), and Chicago State while having losses to Missouri on the road and San Francisco in a neutral site game. The wins over North Dakota and North Dakota State were both exhibitions so those don’t count towards their record.
The Gophers are led by senior guard/forward Cade Tyson, who is averaging 21.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. He is shooting 52.9% from the field, 40.0% from 3-point range, and 79.7% from the foul line. Junior forward Jaylen Crokcer-Johnson is averaging a double-double: 11.7 points and 10.5 rebounds while senior guard Langston Reynolds is averaging 10.0 points per game. The Gophers have a solid trio, but not much depth.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Tyson. Tyson is a fantastic player and doing all he can for the Gophers. If Stanford can hold him under his scoring average, that would be huge as they go about winning this game.
Secondly, Stanford needs to control the glass. Minnesota averages a +9.8 rebound margin per game while Stanford averages a +5.0 margin. If Stanford wins the rebound battle, they should be in a good spot to win since Minnesota is used to winning that battle.
Finally, Stanford needs to maintain a consistent offensive flow. They can’t expect to win if they have multiple stretches of no points in 4+ minutes. That kinda thing. Ebuka Okorie has been fantastic, but others need to take the pressure off of him so that if he goes cold, the entire offense doesn’t grind to a halt.
Prediction: I got Stanford winning 77-67. I think they’ll handle the Gophers just fine and await the winner of Saint Louis/Santa Clara on Friday.
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