The Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Northwestern Wildcats meet in college basketball action from the Welsh-Ryan Arena on Saturday afternoon. Let’s dive into the odds, injuries, matchup history and make a prediction for this game.
Odds
Northwestern is listed as a 12.5-point home favorite with a ML price of -850. The total for this game is set at 126.5 points.
Injuries
For Minnesota, Dawson Garcia and Pharrell Payne are both questionable for this game with Garcia sporting an ankle injury and Payne is dealing with a concussion. Braeden Carrington is out until mid-February with a leg injury. For Northwestern, Julian Roper II is questionable for this game with an ankle injury.
Matchup History
Northwestern’s 75-62 win over Minnesota back on March 6th, 2022, snapping Minnesota’s two-game win streak in the head-to-head matchup.
Trends
Minnesota is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 road games while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600. Northwestern is 9-2 ATS in their last 11 Saturday games and 17-39-3 ATS in their last 59 games following an ATS win while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall.
Pick
I get the case to be made for Northwestern at home here, but the thing is that the Golden Gophers have been competitive on the road this season, losing by 4 points or less or winning outright in their last three conference road games, all of which came as a double-digit underdog. I think this is a spot where Northwestern wins but Minnesota is once again competitive and covers. Give me the Golden Gophers and the points.