U men's gameday: Gophers vs. Tennessee Tech

Last update: November 12, 2009 - 11:05 PM

About the Gophers: The Gophers are coming off the program's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2005. A nationally ranked recruiting class -- well, half of one -- figures to help Minnesota immediately. But Royce White, Trevor Mbakwe and Devron Bostick are out indefinitely. Tubby Smith is coaching in his 600th career game. He has never lost a season opener with the Gophers.

About Tennessee Tech: There are a lot of connections between Tennessee Tech and the Gophers. Golden Eagles coach Mike Sutton met Smith in the late 1970s and joined him as an assistant at Hoke County High School (Raeford, N.C.), Virginia Commonwealth (where they were both assistants), Tulsa, Georgia and Kentucky. Smith's sons, G.G. and Saul, worked as assistants under Sutton at Tennessee Tech. Redshirt freshman Charles Newton is the grandson of C.M. Newton, the former Kentucky athletic director who hired Smith.

Keys to the game: The Gophers have to take advantage of a big size advantage. And they can launch their aggressive full-court press early against a team that made 67.7 percent of its free throws a year ago. Sutton's best chance to beat his old boss is to hurt the Gophers from the three-point line, where his team made 36.5 percent of its attempts a year ago.

MYRON P. MEDCALF

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