Saturday morning at Williams Arena, the Washington Huskies and the Minnesota Golden Gophers are set to meet up. Washington is heading into this game with an infuriating losing streak that has stretched out to a half dozen games and they’re looking for their first road win of the season. Meanwhile, Minnesota is fresh off a 73-51 loss to the Michigan State Spartans.
Right now, both of these teams are struggling. Which, you know, will make for some interesting basketball. But it might also provide the Huskies with a real chance at getting a win on the road against a Big Ten opponent.
The Huskies enter this game with a 10-10 record overall, but UW is 1-8 in Big Ten play this season. That’s, uh, not great. Minnesota, on the other hand, isn’t much better. The Golden Gophers are 11-10 on the season, but they’re just 3-7 against Big Ten teams this year.
So, there’s a chance the Huskies could come out on top of this one. But it really depends on how Washington does away from home. Right now, the Huskies are averaging just 62.2 points per game on the road while UW’s defense allows opponents the chance to score 78.6 points per game.
Washington Huskies vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers: 3 questions that need answers
If Washington is going to end this frustrating losing streak in the midst of their inaugural Big Ten season, they’ll need to answer a few questions.
- Will the Huskies be able to get a win away from home? - I, for one, deeply hope so. But I really have no clue. Minnesota is a respectable 10-4 when playing at home, but that number drops down to 2-3 in Big Ten play. Maybe this is a chance to get an elusive win on the road away from Seattle?
- How will Great Osobor do in another Big Ten game? - So far, Great Osobor has been a huge reason for the success that the Huskies have seen. And in Big Ten play, Osobor is averaging 16.4 points per game, 7.9 rebounds per game, and he’s doing just about everything he possibly can to keep the Huskies competitive.
- Will Washington’s defense be able to slow a struggling Minnesota offense? - Great question! I’m glad I asked it. The Huskies haven’t been all that great on the defensive side of things for much of this season, but that’s especially true in Big Ten play where the Huskies are giving up over 10 points per game more than they were against non-conference teams. However, Minnesota is only scoring about 69 points per game. This is a chance for UW to really stymie a bad offense and get a little bit of confidence on defense to move forward with. We’ll see how it plays out.
Washington has a chance to get a win. Or, well, at least they do in theory. There aren’t many more super winnable games down the stretch of the season for Danny Sprinkle and the Washington Huskies. So they better take advantage of the opportunities they have now.