#614 ASA PLAY ON Minnesota -23 over IUPUI, Tuesday at 8 PM ET - The Gophers are playing their 3rd straight home game tonight before taking a 9 day break from action. They’ve played better than most thought entering the season with a 7-3 record and their 3 losses coming vs teams ranked in KenPom’s top 80. They’ll be playing their weakest opponent of the season on Tuesday when IUPUI comes to town. The Jaguars are terrible (ranked 355th) and this isn’t a one season situation. They’ve been bad for a number of years. This year they have 1 win vs a Division 1 opponent and that was back in early November vs Valpo who is also ranked outside the top 300. Going back to the start of the 2021 season, if we toss out games vs non Division 1 teams, IUPUI has a straight up record of 5-60! Four of those five wins have come vs teams that were ranked outside the top 300. Minnesota is ranked inside the top 100 and IUPUI’s performances vs those teams have been brutal to say the least. This year they’ve faced 1 team in the top 100 (Indiana State) and lost that game by 39 points. Prior to this season, they faced 3 top 100 teams since the start of the 2021 season and lost those 3 games by margins of 46, 49, and 32 points. That’s an average loss margin of 41.5 points! They rank outside the top 340 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. They turn the ball over at nearly a 22% rate (340th) and they are a poor 3 point shooting team making only 23% of their triples. Because of that they score most of their points inside the arc and Minnesota is excellent defending the 2 point shot (27th nationally). The Gophs rank inside the top 50 in both eFG% offense and defense and they are averaging 82 PPG at home this season. They are looking for 3 straight wins after topping a solid Nebraska team by 11 and then rolling a Florida Gulf Coast team (won by 20) ranked over 100 spots higher than IUPUI. They’ve done that with leading scorer Garcia out with an ankle injury. He may be back here although it isn’t likely. Even with that, they’ve shown they can win big without him and will again tonight. Lay it.