The Iowa Hawkeyes take a 6-5 Big Ten record on the road to play Minnesota. The Golden Gophers snapped a five game losing skid with a 68-59 win at Illinois. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. McCaffery says Gopher point guard Nate Mason is a difficult matchup for the Hawkeyes. He averages 14 points and more than five assists per game.

At 16-7 overall the Gophers are making a good run at an NCAA Tournament bid. McCaffery says he’s not surprised by the progress they have made. Minnesota is 4-6 in the Big Ten. Gopher head coach Richard Pitino says Iowa is on a roll right now. Pitino says Iowa is a tough team to scout right now because Peter Jok has only played in one of the three games they’ve won in a row. He says his team is battle-tested through the first ten games of the Big Ten schedule, and that they want that Illinois game to give them momentum moving forward Pitino says his team will be challenged with Iowa’s offensive prowess tonight.

Tune-in for the pre-game show at 7-p.m. on KJAN, followed by the tip-off at 8-p.m. from Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

(Learfield Sports)