Gophers starting backcourt among the Big Ten's best scoring trios

Gophers' starting backcourt of Nate Mason, Amir Coffey and Dupree McBrayer make a case to be among the Big Ten's best

December 23, 2016 at 4:42PM

Minnesota's starting backcourt of Nate Mason, Dupree McBrayer and Amir Coffey could be one of the Big Ten's best this year.

They are out to prove it.

"We're starting to get it," said McBrayer, who had a career-high 21 points in last week's win against LIU-Brooklyn. "We're starting to figure it out. We're a pretty good backcourt. We might be underrated, but we don't care about that. We just care about game-by-game getting better and growing as a team."

Mason, Coffey and McBrayer are the team's top three scorers and average a combine 37.7 points per game.

The Gophers' backcourt ranks fourth in the Big Ten among the top scoring guard trios, behind Indiana's James Blackmon, Robert Johnson and Josh Newkirk (40.1 points per game), Iowa's Peter Jok, Isaiah Moss and Jordan Bohannon (38.8) and Illinois' Malcolm Hill, Tracy Abrams and Jalen Coleman-Lands (38.7).

But Minnesota's Mason, Coffey and McBrayer are the only starting backcourt in the Big Ten that all have scoring averages in double figures. Add Akeem Springs to that group off the bench (8.9 points) and the Gophers are definitely a dangerous team on the perimeter.

about the writer

about the writer

Marcus Fuller

Reporter

Marcus Fuller covers Gophers men's basketball, national college basketball, college sports and high school recruiting for the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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