The Gophers have never really been a good road team in men's basketball, and that certainly includes their games at Michigan. They are 20-51 in Ann Arbor, and have lost six straight entering Saturday's meeting.
Michigan has been up and down this year, losing a non-conference game to New Jersey Institute of Technology at home, but has won a couple of Big Ten games in a row.
This Michigan game is a big game for the Gophers, because they do have two home games coming up, and they will be underdogs in both – against Iowa, a team that is unbeaten in the Big Ten, and Rutgers.
The Gophers need to win at least two of those three games to stay in any kind of a run for the NCAA.
Hockey rivalry
The Gophers men's hockey team is at Michigan this weekend, which always reminds me of the early days of college hockey when Al Renfrew coached the Wolverines (from 1957-73) and John Mariucci was behind the Gophers bench (1952-66).
Renfrew got the great Red Berenson – who is now Michigan's coach – to come down from Canada, and that started a great pipeline for the Wolverines. Mariucci liked to play Minnesota kids, and the two coaches had quite a rivalry.
