Tonight's Gophers opponent, Ohio State ranks seventh in the nation at three-point defense, according to kenpom.com.
Forty percent of the Gophers' shots come from beyond the arc.
What gives? Well, not the Gophers' activity from downtown -- at least not purposefully.
"Bombs away," coach Richard Pitino said. "We're going to keep shooting."
No doubt the Gophers need to play their own game tonight (8 p.m. tip-off; 1500-a.m and ESPN2), and execute it well -- Minnesota wouldn't fare well trying to do something different. While succeeding from three-point range should be as challenging as ever with the Buckeyes boasting two of the premiere perimeter defenders in the nation -- in Aaron Craft and Shannon Scott -- Pitino also believes its Minnesota's biggest strength.
"We're always going to shoot threes," Pitino said. "That's kind of what I've kind of grown up around, is shooting the three, I love it. I think that's the way you can go into a Michigan State and upset some teams sometimes and stretch out the defense."
At the same time, Pitino realizes that the Gophers aren't going to be able to rely on that shot as much as they have in the Big Ten schedule so far.
"We've got to start going inside," Pitino said. "[We] have to understand, we've got to establish that low-post game first, but if we have an open shot, we're going to take it."
