Gophers men's hoops vs. Oklahoma State in Tulsa
THREE THINGS TO WATCH:
Backcourt depth – Both the Gophers and Oklahoma State are expected to play without starters in the backcourt in Saturday's game. Junior Payton Willis will miss his first game of the season with a lingering ankle injury. The Cowboys are expected to play their fourth straight game without leading scorer and sophomore guard Isaac Likekele, who has been sidelined with an undisclosed illness. Willis, who is averaging 11.0 points and leads the team with 27 three-pointers, tweaked his ankle in Sunday's 84-71 win against then-No. 3 Ohio State. But Willis was hobbling since first suffering the injury in the 20-point loss Dec. 9 at Iowa. Freshman Tre' Williams replaced Willis in the second half of Sunday's game to play a career-high 27 minutes. But Pitino could look to freshmen Isaiah Ihnen and Michael Hurt as well to contribute more. Likekele (13.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg and 5.0 apg) had nine points on 3-for-7 shooting in his last game in a Nov. 29 win against Mississippi. Senior Lindy Waters III had 29 points, six rebounds and six assists in an 81-74 loss to Georgetown in the next game. But Oklahoma State is 1-2 without Likekele. Freshman Chris Harris Jr. started twice and sophomore Dee Mitchell once in the last three games in Likekele's spot.
Marcus Carr's encore – How will Gophers point guard Marcus Carr follow up his career-best 35-point performance in Sunday's win against the Buckeyes? The last time Carr had a big game at home with a 24-point effort against Clemson at home, the sophomore co-captain had just two points on 1-for-10 shooting in a loss at Iowa on Dec. 9. Carr's averaging just 8.7 points on 20 percent shooting in three true road games this season – all losses (at Butler, Utah and Iowa). But Carr played well with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in a neutral site loss vs. Oklahoma last month. A critical factor in Carr's impact in the Gophers wins and losses this season has been his foul shooting. In five wins, Carr is shooting 84 percent on free throws (21 for 25). But he shot an abysmal 37.5 percent (9 for 24) combined at the foul line in three losses, while also not attempting a free throw in the last two losses vs. DePaul and Iowa.
Another big man battle – There has been a string of talented opposing big men trying to get the best of Gophers sophomore Daniel Oturu, but he's outplayed them all. In the last four games, Oturu faced DePaul's Paul Reed, Clemson's Aamir Simms, Iowa's Luka Garza and Ohio State's Kaleb Wesson, but he averaged 19 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.8 blocks during that stretch. The 6-foot-10, 245-pound Oturu seems to play even better when challenged in the post this year. Next up will be Oklahoma State's 6-10 sophomore Yor Anei, who is also having a breakout second season Anei, who led the Cowboys with 18 points and eight rebounds in last week's 61-55 win vs. Houston, improved his scoring (7.7 to 12.1), rebounding (4.6 to 6.3), foul shooting (64.1 to 72.2) and blocks (2.6 to 2.7) this year. Anei had four blocks in the loss to the Gophers at U.S. Bank Stadium last season.
GAME INFO
Time: 4:30 p.m. CT, Saturday. Where: BOK Center. Line: Minnesota 3.5-point underdog. Series: Gophers lead the series 4-3, including last meeting 83-76 win at U.S. Bank Stadium o Nov. 30, 2018. TV: ESPN2. Online/Live video: ESPN Watch. Radio: 103.5.
PROJECTED STARTERS
