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The Boilermakers and Gophers finish off a two-game regular season series, this time at Williams Arena. Purdue won in Mackey Arena, 81-62, back on Jan. 30, after outscoring Minnesota 51-27 in the second half. That was the Brandon Newman Game, as the redshirt freshman scored 29 points.

Schedule | Statistics | Roster

This will be Purdue's 12th game this season with all its key players available, now that Sasha Stefanovic is back. It's 8-3 in the 11 games prior. ... The 61-60 loss at Maryland snapped a three-game road winning streak for the Boilermakers. ... Purdue's third in the Big Ten in conference games in scoring defense, allowing just 66.9 points. Last season, it was 11th. ... Purdue's also third in field-goal percentage defense, at just 41.8 percent. ... Purdue's now 30th nationally in offensive efficiency and 27th defensively, according to KenPom.

C — 50 TREVION WILLIAMS (6-10, 265, Junior)

16.5 PPG • 9.4 RPG • 2.2 APG • 53.2% FG

Purdue leveraged a distinct physicality advantage against the Gophers the first time around, when Williams went for 17 and 14 rebounds — six of Purdue's 17 offensive rebounds — and threw his body around enough to where it may have compelled Liam Robbins to shoot too many threes. The Boilermakers will want to hold this same advantage in Round 2.

F — 0 MASON GILLIS (6-6, 230, Redshirt Freshman)

5.2 PPG • 3.7 RPG • 31% 3-PT

Gillis played close to a perfect game against the Gophers at the end of January, with 11 points, nine rebounds and a pair of steals. He made two threes in that game and 3-of-3 last time out against Northwestern. He's 5-of-9 from long range the past three games.

G — 2 ERIC HUNTER JR. (6-4, 170, Junior)

8.4 PPG • 25.6% 3-PT • 3.0 APG • 86.7% FT • 15 STL

The junior guard hasn't shot the ball great this season, but he's been the defensive spark Purdue hoped he'd be this season, never more so than the first meeting between these two teams, as he led the effort that held Marcus Carr to a paltry six points on 13 shots. It'll be difficult to replicate, but Hunter knows what he has to do. He was excellent offensively too during that decisive second half against Minnesota.

G — 5 BRANDON NEWMAN (6-5, 195, Redshirt Freshman)

10.1 PPG • 3.6 RPG • 44.9% 3-PT • 95% FT

Newman went off against the Gophers, dropping 29 points and making 5-of-6 threes. Minnesota probably will not want to allow that to happen again.

G — 23 JADEN IVEY (6-4, 200, Freshman)

8.9 PPG • 3.2 RPG • 1.9 AST

A starter ever since Sasha Stefanovic was idled, Ivey's been surging, scoring double-figures in four of the past five games and coming off a dominant 20-point game vs. Northwestern. He'll remain in the starting five and Purdue will keep running a considerable amount of offense through him. He's 16-of-19 at the foul line in the past four games and he's been drawing a lot of fouls.

C — 15 ZACH EDEY (7-4, 285, Freshman)

5.0 PPG • 4.3 RPG • 1.3 BLK

Edey's really trending upward also, coming off his best all-around game of the Big Ten season vs. Northwestern.

G — 55 SASHA STEFANOVIC (6-5, 200, Junior)

9.1 PPG • 3.2 RPG • 1.7 APG • 34.0% 3-PT

It may take a few games for Stefanovic to round back into form, but Purdue's much better with him than not. Stefanovic is a way better shooter than his Big Ten success rate of 34 percent from three suggests, an offensive focal point for Purdue and an under-rated defensive presence due to his experience.

G — 11 ISAIAH THOMPSON (6-1, 160, Sophomore)

3.8 PPG • 51.7% FG • 50% 3-PT

Thompson's minutes could fluctuate again now with a full backcourt — and Purdue was careful to make sure Eric Hunter was on Marcus Carr every second of the first game — but he played well when needed the past few games. This deep into the season, Thompson's committed just four turnovers in more than 200 minutes in Big Ten play, and has made half of his 18 three-point attempts.

F — 1 AARON WHEELER (6-9, 205, Junior)

2.5 PPG • 3.6 RPG

G — 25 ETHAN MORTON (6-6, 215, Freshman)

C — 4 EMMANUEL DOWUONA (6-10, 245, Sophomore) (O)

Schedule | Statistics | Roster

The Golden Gophers have been a different team at home, 5-1 in Big Ten play at Williams Arena, 0-6 elsewhere. Their only home loss was that 63-49 loss to Maryland a week before the loss at Purdue. ... Minnesota's the worst three-point-shooting team in the Big Ten, at just 28.7 percent in conference play. ... The Gophers have been outrebounded on average by a wide margin in Big Ten play — 44-27 vs. Purdue the first time — but have been a decent offensive rebounding team, averaging 11.8 in Big Ten games, though that has something to do with the Gophers' league-worst 38-percent shooting. Minnesota's effective field goal percentage of 46.6 percent ranks 291st nationally, per KenPom.

F — 23 BRANDON JOHNSON (6-8, 220, Senior)

8.6 PPG • 6.3 RPG • 35.1% 3-PT

The slashing forward was 4-of-7 for 11 points against Purdue in Mackey Arena.

C — 0 LIAM ROBBINS (7-0, 235, Junior)

13.2 PPG • 7.2 RPG • 2.7 BLK • 37% 3-PT

One of the best centers in college basketball and one of the finest in a league full of great ones, Robbins is an excellent inside-outside player, three-point shooter and shot-blocker. Purdue's bigs took it to him physically in the first meeting, with great success, and Richard Pitino wasn't thrilled about him shooting a half dozen threes, making two. His length gave Purdue problems at times, as he finished with six blocks.

G — 5 MARCUS CARR (6-2, 195, Senior)

19.9 PPG • 5.4 AST • 4.1 RPG • 33% 3-PT

Purdue's game plan will be no secret: Crowd Carr, make him inefficient and force deficient shooters to make shots. It worked In Game 1 against the high-end guard, though Purdue has to wait out some outlier shooting early from other guys. Carr scored just six points. The odds are not on the Boilermakers' side that it'll happen again — Carr can be a very different player at home — but no reason to think they can't slow him down.

G— 22 GABE KALSCHEUR (6-4, 200, Junior)

9.0 PPG • 22.2% 3-PT

Kalscheur's shooting numbers are shocking. They've been plummeting from his first season with the Gophers and bottoming out this season, but he's shown what he can do in the past. There will be Minnesota players on the floor Purdue will be OK allowing to shoot. Kalscheur won't be one of them, despite that hideous 22 percent. He was 2-of-5 in Mackey Arena.

G — 1 TRE' WILLIAMS (6-5, 200, Sophomore)

3.7 PPG • 35.5% 3-PT

Williams was one of the players Purdue didn't dedicate as much attention to defensively and he made both his threes.

G — 4 JAMAL MASHBURN JR. (6-2, 175, Freshman)

5.1 PPG • 23% 3-PT

F — 24 ERIC CURRY (6-9, 240, Senior)

3.6 PPG • 2.1 RPG

G — 11 BOTH GACH (6-6, 185, Junior)

9.6 PPG • 5.1 RPG • 2.7 AST • 31% 3-PT

F — 35 ISAIAH IHNEN (6-9, 220, Sophomore)

2.4 PPG • 3.7 RPG • 70% FG

The second half of the first meeting between these two teams was a dominant one for Purdue, but the Boilermakers probably aren't going to make eight of 10 threes after halftime or get 29 from Newman at the Barn as they did in Mackey. Minnesota, though, may not start 5-of-7 either, though.

If Purdue can do a solid job again bottling up Carr, the matchups aren't unkind to the Boilermakers here, including in the paint, where Trevion Williams stacks up well against Robbins and Minnesota lacks much firepower around its two studs. Williams need to shake off that quiet game vs. Northwestern, though, and obviously avoid foul problems.

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