Minnesota has won only one of its past seven games, but the Golden Gophers will get a chance to beat Penn State for the second time in a week Thursday afternoon when they square off with the Nittany Lions in State College, Pa.
The Gophers (12-11, 3-11 Big Ten) held on for a 76-70 triumph Saturday night over Penn State in Minneapolis before they were drubbed 70-45 Tuesday night at No. 18 Ohio State.
Penn State (10-12, 5-9) is coming off a 62-58 win over No. 19 Michigan State on Tuesday, when Seth Lundy sank a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:37 remaining. Lundy finished a game-high 17 points.
First-year coach Micah Shrewsberry says he hopes the Lions’ big win over Michigan State and one of his coaching idols, Tom Izzo, can help propel the program forward.
“I’m happy for our guys,” Shrewsberry said. “They deserved this in terms of how they played and what they’ve done.
“It’s an honor for me to coach against Tom Izzo. He gives a model for how we build our programs and what we do and how his teams get better and better and better as the year goes on. … That’s who we want to be. Hopefully, we’re building that way for the future.”
Penn State has won three of its past four Big Ten home games, while Minnesota has lost its past six conference road games.
Minnesota coach Ben Johnson would like to see his team respond with force after letting a 25-23 halftime advantage evaporate against Ohio State. The Gophers were outscored in the second half 47-20.
“We’ve got to be able to flush it, but we’ve also got to be able to learn,” Johnson said. “We have to understand that we have to have a better response if we want to try to win on Thursday, and that response is the details, the competitiveness.
“We can’t have the ‘woe is me’ (attitude). You’ve got to be able to fight every single possession.”
In the game against Penn State three nights earlier, Minnesota’s Eric Curry scored a career-high 22 points, while Sam Sessoms led Penn State with 18 points.
–Field Level Media
