5th meeting (Minnesota leads 3-1 at all times)
Road record at Indiana: 0-1
Last meeting: 2011 (Old Spice Classic: MN W, 76-69)
starting five
• The University of Minnesota men's basketball team will play Indiana State University on Sunday in the second round of the NIT. Game time will begin at 1pm CT on ESPN2. If the Gophers beat Indiana State, Minnesota will face the winner of Bradley/Cincinnati in the third round.
• Minnesota advanced to the second round by defeating Butler 73-72 on Tuesday night in Indianapolis. dawson garcia Scored a team-high 25 points, Elijah Hawkins had 11 points, 15 assists, six rebounds and made the game-tying goal and game-winning free throw. Hawkins broke Minnesota's single-game NIT assist record. This marked the most assists for a Gopher in postseason play. It was Hawkins' sixth point-assist double-double of the season.
• The Gophers will be in the NIT for the first time since 2014, when Minnesota defeated SMU 65-63 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The 2024 bid will be the 14th NIT appearance in program history, excluding appearances in 1996 and 1998, which were later vacated. The Gophers have amassed a 28-12 (.700) record in NIT games, excluding the gap season. This will be the Gophers' first postseason play since 2019, when the University of Minnesota was selected to the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round.
• Minnesota is 3-1 all-time against the Sycamores, dating back to 1983 and their first meeting since 2011. The Gophers lost 94-86 at Terra Haute on December 11, 1984, going 0-1. The last time Minnesota and Indiana State met was on November 25, 2011, in the Old Spice Classic, where the teams played in a non-conference tournament, with the Gophers winning 76-69.
• This time last year, Minnesota was 2-17 in Big Ten play and 9-22 overall. The Gophers finished 9-11 this year and 18-14 overall. This win improvement shows he is one of the best in the Big Ten and nationally among the Power 6 teams. South Carolina went from 11 to 26 wins this year, and Cal went from 3-29 (2-18 in PAC-12) to 13-19 and 9-11 in conference play. Ole Miss finished 12-21, 3-15 in the SEC last year and 20-12, 7-11 in league play.
About Indiana
• Indiana State enters the game against Minnesota with a 29-6 overall record and finished 17-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Sycamores lost to Drake 84-80 in the MVC Championship, ending their winning streak at six. ISU advanced to the second round of the NIT with a 101-92 win over SMU on Wednesday night. The Gophers and Sycamores had common opponents in IUPUI, Ball State and Michigan State last season.
• Five Sycamores have scored in double figures this season, led by first-team MVC Robbie Avila, who is averaging 17.3 points and a team-best 6.7 rebounds per game. This is followed by his second team MVC winners Ryan Conwell (he scores 16.4 points per game) and Isaiah Swope (16.2 points). Jason Kent, who scored 35 points against SMU on Wednesday, is averaging 13.5 points per game. Larry Julien averaged 10.7 points in double figures.
• As a team, ISU averages 84.9 points and allows 72.6 points per game. ISU is shooting 50 percent from the field. This ranks him No. 3 nationally, and the Sycamores rank him No. 1 in efficient field goal percentage. ISU is averaging 38.5 percent from 3-point range and 10.1 per game. ISU also ranks third in the nation in shooting 80 percent from the free throw line. The Sycamores averaged 35.7 rebounds.
