The Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball team has looked invincible so far this season en route to starting with a 4-0 record. Minnesota has knocked off a trio of weak smaller conference opponents,
and dominated a Marquette team that was predicted to finish second in the Big East. But all four of those games were in the familiar surroundings of Williams Arena. Minnesota gets their first road test Tuesday night when they head to Lawrence, Kansas to face the 4-0 Kansas Jayhawks.
Minnesota moved to 4-0 in their most recent romp of a small conference school crushing NJIY 88-39 Friday night. Minnesota is getting scoring from a wide range of players and has scored 88 or more points in all four games this season—the first time in program history that has been accomplished.
Sophie Hart has had a great debut to her 5th year senior season thus far. She has doubled her scoring average from last season, averaging 13.8 points per game. Amaya Battle became only the fifth Gopher in program history to reach 1,000 points and 500 assists in the win over NJIT. She joins Rachel Banham (3,093 points, 522 assists), Lindsay Whalen (2,285 points, 578 assists), Kenisha Bell (1,754 points, 511 assists) and Debbie Hunter (1,363 points, 633 assists). Sophomore Tori McKinney leads Minnesota with 11 steals this season, averaging 2.7 per game. Last season, she had four steals through her first four games as a freshman. The guard has also doubled her scoring output, totaling 52 points so far; last year, she had 23 points through the first four games. Minnesota ranks second in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio and first in the Big Ten, is eighth nationally and second in the conference with 24.5 assists per game, and finished third in the country and first in the league in fewest turnovers per game at 8.
Kansas comes into Tuesday’s game after a big rivalry win 82-77 over Missouri last Saturday in Kansas City. Junior guard S’Mya Nichols and senior guard Elle Evans scored 20 points apiece, while freshman forward Jaliya Davis added 15 and sophomore forward Regan Williams had 14 in the win. Nichols will be who the Gophers will need to key on in Tuesday’s game. She was named a unanimous Preseason All Big 12 Team selection for the second consecutive season and has opened up her junior year with three 20-point scoring efforts in the first four games. She leads the Jayhawks and ranks fifth in the Big 12 in both scoring (19.5 points per game) and assists (6.8 per game). Evans is a three-point shooting threat who is 60% from beyond the arc thus far this season—so Minnesota must keep the ball out of her hands beyond the three-point line.
This game is likely to be a high scoring affair, so whoever can play the best team defense and control the boards should have the best chance to win in the end. Minnesota has been great on the boards this season outrebounding teams by over 16 per game, while the Jayhawks have only outrebounded their opponents by three. Kansas can also be sloppy with the ball with 67 turnovers in four games while Minnesota has just 32 and has forced 88. Another definite advantage for the Gophers.
Kansas leads the all-time series between the two schools 14-4. Minnesota has never won at Allen Fieldhouse going 0-7. But the teams have not met in twelve seasons. The Gophers and Jayhawks last met Nov. 20, 2013, at Williams Arena, with Minnesota taking a 70-59 win. Kansas won the most recent matchup in Lawrence in 2012.
Tip is set for 6:30 PM and the game will stream on ESPN+. The game will also be broadcast live on 96.7 FM/ I Heart Radio in the Twin Cities.
