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Jared Sullinger Is A Tough Match-Up, But Golden Gophers Have A Plan

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have a pretty big games on Tuesday night as they attempt to match-up with the Ohio State Buckeyes. In actuality, though, it'll be more like all of the Gophers trying to figure out how to stop Jared Sullinger.

Tubby Smith told the assembled media that won't be an easy task, though -- especially considering Trevor Mbakwe has long been out of the Gophers lineup due to injury. The coach told the Pioneer Press that he learned some things by watching the Michigan State Spartans handle Sullinger, though, that he plans to implement as well.

"They forced Jared away from the basket more. They stayed out on the shooters," Smith said. "Sometimes they would come down and fake the trap. Sometimes they'd trap. Sometimes they would stay out. They did a good job of mixing things up. We'd like to hope we would be on the same level with Michigan State, but certainly they do a fantastic job rebounding ball, too. That's also a tell tale when they can hold a team to one shot."

Whether it works or not will be determined during the game, but it sounds good in theory.

For more on the Minnesota Golden Gophers, check out The Daily Gopher. You can also learn more about college basketball around the nation at SB Nation's College Basketball hub.

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.