Dawson Garcia is Minnesota’s chief on each ends of the court docket.
His teammates understand it. His combatants understand it, too.
This is the reason opposing groups are doing the rest they may be able to to restrict Garcia’s affect for Minnesota early within the season. The fashion most likely will proceed when the Golden Gophers (4-1) host Central Michigan (3-2) on Monday evening in Minneapolis.
“Clearly, we all know he will be the focus,” Minnesota trainer Ben Johnson mentioned. “Different guys do need to step up. You have to take some drive off of him a little bit bit.”
Garcia leads the Golden Gophers with 23 issues and seven.2 rebounds in line with sport. He’s capturing 54.5 p.c from the sector and 53.3 p.c from 3-point vary.
No one else on Minnesota is averaging double digits in scoring, despite the fact that 4 gamers have posted no less than 6.5 issues in line with sport. The checklist of secondary scorers contains Brennan Rigsby (8.6 ppg), Parker Fox (7.8), Lu’Cye Patterson (7.2) and Mike Mitchell Jr. (6.5).
Central Michigan is searching for its 3rd win in a row. The Chippewas are coming off back-to-back wins in opposition to George Mason and Department II Central State.
“(On Wednesday), it was once our protection,” Central Michigan trainer Tony Barbee mentioned after his staff’s 86-52 win over Central State. “Our protection was once terrific lately, protecting them to 26 p.c from the ground, 20 p.c from 3-point vary. …
“We need to play off of our protection and get guys out in transition and percentage the ball. … Now, we are being higher stewards with the basketball and no longer being as reckless as we had been previous within the yr.”
Anthony Pritchard leads Central Michigan with 13.8 issues in line with sport to head along side a team-high 5 assists and three.4 steals. Jakobi Heady is subsequent at the scoring checklist with 13 issues and a team-high 7.2 rebounds, and Kyler Vanderjagt is averaging 11.4 issues whilst capturing 47.4 p.c from past the arc.
Minnesota leads the all time collection 5-0 in opposition to Central Michigan. The universities maximum not too long ago confronted one any other Nov. 17, 2022, when the Golden Gophers hung on for a 68-60 victory.
–Box Degree Media
