The Minnesota Golden Gophers will play in the Old Spice Classic tournament later this week, but they have one final tune-up on Monday night before heading south. The Gophers will host the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers in a game that will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Digital Network when the game tips off at 7 p.m. Central Time.
The Gophers are undefeated through their first three games this season after defeating Bucknell, South Dakota State and Fairfield by double-digits to open the season. Mount St. Mary's should provide a similar result, too, as they opened the season with 91-37 loss to Marquette and dropped their home-opener to Siena over the weekend.
Tubby Smith's team has been led by Trevor Mbakwe as the senior big man enters Monday night's game with averages of 18 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks through the first three games of the season. Ralph Sampson III is second on the team in scoring with 8.7 points, but he's struggled a bit -- despite playing smaller competition -- as he's averaging just 4.7 rebounds.
The Mountaineers are hobbled by the loss of Lamar Trice and big man Kristijan Krajina as they are both suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. Mount St. Mary's still has four players around 10 points, however, with Julian Norfleet, Josh Castellanos, Raven Barber and Danny Thompson averaging between nine and 12 points per game.
Following Monday night's game, the Golden Gophers will head to Florida as they prepare to play DePaul in the opener of the Old Spice Classic on Thursday.