Minnesota Golden Gophers vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights Prediction, 2/4/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Minnesota Golden Gophers vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Date: Thursday, February 4, 2021

Location: Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, NJ

TV: FS1

Odds/Point Spread: Minnesota (+5.5)

Rutgers Athletic Center is the venue where and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (10-6) will play the Minnesota Golden Gophers (11-6) on Thursday. Minnesota opens this game as 5.5-point dogs. The O/U has been set at 139.

Minnesota comes into this matchup with a win-loss record of 11-6 for the campaign. They cough up possession 11.0 times per contest and as a group are committing 18.5 personal fouls per contest. As a team, Minnesota is pulling in 37.5 rebounds per game and is sitting with 260 dimes on the season, which ranks 43rd in Division 1 in terms of passing the rock. The Golden Gophers are connecting on 29.9% on shots from beyond the arc (130 of 435) and 75.2% from the free throw line. They are averaging 76.1 points per outing (83rd in Division 1) while connecting on 40.7% from the floor. When they are on defense, the Golden Gophers are able to force 13.4 turnovers per game while drawing 20.9 personal fouls. The Golden Gophers are giving up a field goal percentage of 42.3% (442 of 1,046) and they concede 40.5 rebounds per game as a squad. They are ranked 312th in college hoops in allowing assists to the opposition with 246 relinquished on the campaign. They relinquish 33.2% on shots from beyond the arc while they are 242nd in college hoops in points per game from their opponents (72.9).

The Minnesota Golden Gophers took the court against the Purdue Boilermakers and ended up losing by a score of 81-62 in their last contest. Minnesota wrapped up the game with a 38.6% FG percentage (22 out of 57) and made 10 out of their 28 three-point shots. At the free throw line, the Golden Gophers converted 8 of their 11 shots for a rate of 72.7%. With respect to grabbing boards, they collected 24 with 8 of them being on the offensive end. They also doled out 15 dimes in the game in addition to earning 6 steals and 7 rejections. Pertaining to defending, Minnesota allowed 38.6% from the floor on 22 of 57 shooting. Purdue dished out 11 dimes and had 8 steals for the matchup. In addition, the Boilermakers snagged 40 rebounds (15 offensive, 25 defensive) and had 7 blocks. Purdue ended up going 79.2% from the charity stripe by making 19 of their 24 tries. They made 8 of 15 attempts from 3-point range.

Liam Robbins is a guy who came through in the matchup. He scored 15 points on 6 of 16 shooting. He played for 30 minutes and pulled down 7 rebounds. Robbins finished the game at 37.5% from the floor and also totaled 2 dimes. An additional guy that had an impact in the matchup for the Golden Gophers was Brandon Johnson. He pulled down 3 boards and totaled 3 dimes. He walked away from this one shooting 57.1% from the floor for this contest by shooting 4-of-7 (11 points). At the conclusion of this game, Johnson was on the court for 33 min.

Rutgers has a mark of 10-6 for the year. The Scarlet Knights have committed 17.4 fouls per contest and they shoot 59.1% from the charity stripe. They are dishing out assists 14.8 times per game (90th in college basketball) and they turn the ball over 11.1 times per contest. Rutgers has 1,159 pts this year (72.4 per contest) and they collect 36.3 rebounds per contest. As an offense, the Scarlet Knights are shooting 46.2% from the field, which is ranked 86th in college hoops. The Scarlet Knights on defense are ranked 122nd in the country in points allowed per contest with 68.1. They are forcing 13.8 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 42.2% from the field (137th in college basketball). The Rutgers defense surrenders 31.8% on 3-point attempts (107 of 336) and their opposition knocks down 71.0% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have relinquished 13.1 dimes and 35.8 boards per game, which has them ranked 192nd and 205th in Division 1.

In their last game, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights got the victory with a final of 64-56 against the Northwestern Wildcats. The Scarlet Knights pulled down 23 defensive rebounds and 4 offensive rebounds totaling 27 for the contest. They also turned away 4 shots while getting 8 steals for the game. The Wildcats were called for 22 fouls for the contest which took the Scarlet Knights to the charity stripe for a total of 22 attempts. They were able to make 13 of them for a clip of 59.1%. In the matter of shooting from 3-point land, Rutgers knocked down 5 out of their 22 attempts (22.7%). Overall, the Scarlet Knights finished 23 for 47 from the floor which had them shooting 48.9%. The Scarlet Knights allowed the Wildcats to bury 20 out of 48 tries from the floor which gave them a rate of 41.7% in the game. They finished the game shooting 20.0% from distance by hitting 4 of 20 and ended up shooting 12 of 17 from the free throw line (70.6%). When talking about how they attacked the glass, Rutgers permitted Northwestern to grab 28 overall (6 on the offensive side).

Ron Harper Jr. was important for the Scarlet Knights in the matchup. He buried 5 of 10 for this game giving him a rate of 50.0%, which had him sitting at 13 points. Jr. totaled 2 boards in his 35 minutes played and accounted for 2 dimes in this game. One more player that was important for Rutgers was Geo Baker. He ended up walking away with 12 points in 34 minutes played by going 4 out of 8 from the floor in the matchup. Baker wrapped this one up going 50.0% from the floor while also contributing 2 dimes and 4 boards.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Minnesota (+5.5)

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