The Minnesota Golden Gophers are eager to return to familiar surroundings this weekend.
The Golden Gophers (5-5) will head home to tip off against Texas Southern (1-6) on Sunday afternoon in a nonconference matchup. Minnesota has won all five of its games at home this season and will look to stay unbeaten in its on-campus arena.
Golden Gophers coach Niko Medved is curious to see how his team responds from its most lopsided loss of the season, an 85-57 defeat at No. 6 Purdue on Wednesday night.
Medved said even a blowout loss offered an opportunity to get better.
“Like I told our guys, we learn from it and grow,” Medved said. “I promise you we won’t be the last team to take it on the chin at (Purdue’s Mackey Arena) this year. We’ve just got to grow from it, got to learn and get better. They are who they are for a reason.”
Texas Southern does not possess anything close to the star-laden roster of Purdue, but the Tigers have proved to be more competitive than their record suggests. They lost by three points in overtime against Samford, lost by 10 at Texas State and are coming off an 82-70 setback against Sam Houston on Dec. 6.
Cade Tyson leads Minnesota with 21.1 points per game on 51.3% shooting. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson is second with 12.7 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game, and Langston Reynolds ranks third with 10.6 points per game.
Texas Southern is led by Troy Hupstead, who is averaging 15.8 points and 8.3 rebounds. Three others are averaging double-digit scoring — Bryce Roberts (14.5 points per game), Zaire Hayes (10.2) and Duane Posey (10.0).
This is the first matchup between Minnesota and Texas Southern since 1994.
