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Minnesota-Purdue Preview

Jan 5, 2010 - 2:51 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Minnesota (11-3) at Purdue (13-0), 7:00 p.m. EDT

With an impressive win over a top 10 opponent on New Year's Day, Purdue concluded its non-conference slate with a perfect record.

Now, coach Matt Painter says the focus is winning the Big Ten.

The fourth-ranked Boilermakers look to carry their early success into league play and match the best start in school history Tuesday night when they host a Minnesota team seeking its eighth straight victory.

After opening its Big Ten schedule with a 67-56 win at Iowa last Tuesday, Purdue (13-0, 1-0) turned its attention to Friday's highly-anticipated matchup against then-No. 6 West Virginia. The Boilermakers proved to be too tough and turned the showdown of unbeatens into a blowout, winning 77-62.

JaJuan Johnson had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Robbie Hummel scored 18 points and E'Twaun Moore added 15 for Purdue, which led by as many as 26.

"Once we get things clicking on offense, we're very dangerous," Johnson said.

Painter figures that if the Boilermakers win the Big Ten, their impressive non-conference run should give them a shot at a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. One of four remaining unbeaten Division I teams, Purdue was picked to finish second in the Big Ten.

"You split your resume into parts," Painter said. "We're finished with this part, and we did everything that we could."

This is Purdue's best start since the 1993-94 team opened with a school-best 14 consecutive victories.

The Boilermakers would not only match that mark with a win over Minnesota, but would also record the school's 500th victory at Mackey Arena. Purdue is 499-114 at Mackey, which opened for the 1967-68 season.

Purdue has won three straight home games over the Golden Gophers, and eight of the last 10 meetings in West Lafayette. In their only meeting last season, the then-No. 18 Boilermakers won 70-62 at then-No. 21 Minnesota behind Johnson's 19 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots.

The Gophers (11-3, 2-0) arrive at Mackey riding a seven-game winning streak, but it hasn't come against the stiffest of competition.

Blowouts over the likes of Brown, Morgan State, South Dakota State and Iowa will do little to get the NCAA tournament selection committee's attention in 2010. A victory over the Boilermakers, though, certainly would.

"We have to play like men to get a win," said Minnesota senior guard Lawrence Westbrook, averaging a team-high 13.8 points. "This is the perfect game to figure out where you are as a team."

Making matters more challenging, the Gophers will likely play the Boilermakers without sophomore center Ralph Sampson III, their leading rebounder (5.9 per game) and shot blocker (2.2). Coach Tubby Smith said Monday that the 6-foot-11 Sampson is still bothered by an ankle injury that kept him out of Saturday's 86-74 win at Iowa.

Blake Hoffarber, who led Minnesota past the Hawkeyes with 24 points, has been instrumental during the team's winning streak. The junior guard is averaging 18.3 points and shooting 60.0 percent from 3-point range (30 of 50) in the last seven games. He scored 5.4 points per game in the first seven contests of the season.

"Last year, I was kind of thinking a lot, and this year I'm trying to play off my instincts like you're supposed to play basketball," Hoffarber said.

Hoffarber missed all three of his field goals and finished with two points in 22 minutes against Purdue last season. Westbrook had 12 points but shot 2 of 8 in that game, as the Gophers shot 27.6 percent as a team.