IU to face last year’s only home loss

The sole blemish on Indiana’s home slate last season was the 77-74 loss to Minnesota, a surprising mid-January upset to the then-middling Golden Gophers.
This year’s showdown will be a little different.

Minnesota, currently ranked No. 8 nationally after starting the season unranked, is arguably the country’s biggest surprise team this season. IU Coach Tom Crean said he knows what to expect in the first showdown between two top-10 teams.

“I know that tickets are sold out, and we need to have a boisterous, loud, crazy crowd that exemplifies that because they are really, really good,” Crean said.

The Gophers’ only loss this season was against Duke, the only team other than IU to be ranked No. 1. Like the Hoosiers, the Golden Gophers are undefeated in the Big Ten and have a pair of double-digit wins against then-No. 18 Michigan State and No. 12 Illinois.

Minnesota boasts Andre Hollins, who leads their offense with 13.7 points per game. Three other Gophers average in double-figures. Forward Trevor Mbakwe, however, is in a different league.

The sixth-year graduate student started his career playing at Marquette for Crean.

Mbakwe averaged a double-double two seasons ago as a junior and nearly repeated that pace last year before an ACL tear in his right knee cut his season short.

He is back this season but has posted lower numbers due to his injury and an off-season legal issue. However, he started in the past four games and tied his season high with 19 points Wednesday against Illinois.

Despite his setbacks, he leads his team in rebounds with 7.9 per game.

Both Minnesota and IU have the highest number of rebounds in the Big Ten, but Crean is concerned about Minnesota’s exemplary record for steals after his team had 12 turnovers in the second half of Monday’s 74-51 road win against Penn State.

“We went through every one of those turnovers (Tuesday) as a team in the film and then with a couple of guys individually,” Crean said. “Some of it was decision-making. Some of it was, maybe, just a little bit of a drop of focus.”

IU was the only team in the conference to open the Big Ten season with two games on the road, something Crean said he does not mind.

“When you win on the road and you have two Big Ten games already under your belt and you have nine homes games and seven road games left after you get through it, you don’t look forward to it before it comes,” Crean said. “And then, when you have the wins, you feel great about it.”

Dante Exum, a 2014 recruit given a five-star rating by Rivals.com, will be in attendance after traveling all the way from Australia.

A win Saturday against an experienced Gopher squad coached by former Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith would place IU squarely among the conference frontrunners early in the league season.

“They’ve got a veteran team,” Crean said. “They’ve got one of the older teams in the league. They’re extremely well-coached, as they always are, and we need to play well, and we need the crowd to be behind us the entire way.”