Tariq Francis scored 29 points and carried the Scarlet Knights to a Big Ten Tournament win over Minnesota. The junior guard was 5/7 from three and bounced back from only scoring 10 points in the first meeting between these two teams, three weeks ago. With the win, Rutgers moves on in the tournament to face the 6-seed, UCLA Bruins.
THE STAT: Turnovers have not been much of an issue for the Gophers this year, but 10 turnovers in the second half were critical. Rutgers had 17 points off 15 Gopher turnovers for the game.
TURNING POINT: Rutgers used an 11-0 run in the second half to turn a five-point deficit into a six-point lead with 5:43 to go. The drought for Minnesota lasted four minutes and six seconds and in the six possessions they had over that span, they had six turnovers. Hard to score when you don’t even get a shot off in six consecutive possessions.
HOT: Scoring wasn’t really happening for Langston Reynolds, but his seven rebounds and eight assists were very nice.
NOT: Isaac Asuma had seven points in the first six minutes of the game and for the rest of the game he was 1/6 shooting with five turnovers. He did not look comfortable for most of last night’s game.
GOOD MOVE: Steve Pikiel had his team pressing the depleted Gophers for most of the second half. This certainly contribued to the increase in turnovers and added fatigue for Minnesota. I’m not sure why more teams haven’t been pressing this team all year.
NOTABLE: Once again, Minnesota’s assist per field goal ratio was extremely high. They finished the game with 23 assists on 25 made baskets. They led the nation in this stat and their 72% is the highest since Sam Houston State in 2013.
UP NEXT: The Gophers wait to see if they’ll be invited to a post season tournament or not. The College Basketball Crown seems likely, but we will find out on Sunday night.