Three keys to the Gophers beating Cal Baptist tonight in the SoCal Challenge

Nov 21, 2022 - 9:30 PM

First and foremost you need to know that Cal-Baptist just beat Washington on the road. Do not sleep on this team just because they are not a traditional mid-major, dangerous team. This will be a real test for the Gophers.

Cal-Baptist

Mascot: Lancers
Record: 3-1
KenPom Rank: 160

The Lancers have jumped out to a 3-1 start, losing to Dan Monson’s LBSU team in game 1 and then winning three straight, including

KEYS TO A GOPHER WIN

REBOUND - There are 363 teams in D1 this year and this Gopher basketball team is 357th in defensive rebounding %. So...at least there are 6 teams worse than us? We need to do a much better job of boxing out and rebounding. This concerns me greatly.

Team defense - In the limited amount of time I’ve been able to watch the team this year, I have not been terribly impressed with their defense. Would be refreshing to see some team defense that really makes things hard on the Lancers.

Free Throws - Both of these teams have done a nice job of not putting opponents on the free throw line and both teams have done a nice job of getting to the free throw line. Also, both teams have stunk at making their free throws (Minnesota has been worse). The team that gains an advantage here, may gain enough of an advantage to pull out a win.

PREDICTION

This game is going to be a tough one to win and Vegas has the Gophers as 1.5 point underdogs. So do not be surprised if this is a Minnesota loss.

I’m not expecting to see Jamison Battle again tonight and I’m going to predict that Minnesota loses.

Minnesota - 68
Cal Baptist - 74