Minnesota @ Purdue preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 5, 2019 ) Purdue 69, Minnesota 73

Second-seeded Purdue looks to build on a successful regular season when it faces No. 7 seed Minnesota in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday in Chicago. Many critics wrote the Boilermakers off after a 6-5 start, but they went on to win 17 of their next 20 games to earn a share of the Big Ten regular-season championship along with Michigan State, and hope to continue their winning ways as they search for their first conference tournament title since 2009.

"It's fun to prove those people wrong, but now it's back to work and on to the Big Ten Tournament," Purdue center Matt Haarms told reporters. "If you lose you're done and you're going home so it's a different mentality." Minnesota rallied in the second half to beat No. 10 seed Penn State 77-72 in overtime and likely punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament in the process. The Gophers looked as if they would have to sweat out Selection Sunday but erased an eight-point deficit with under five minutes to play in regulation before scoring 16 points in the extra session. Minnesota split the season series with Purdue, but won the most recent matchup 73-69 on Mar. 5 to ensure the Boilermakers did not win an outright Big Ten regular season title.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network

ABOUT PURDUE (23-8): Carsen Edwards was selected to the All-Big Ten First Team after leading the conference in scoring at 23.4 points per game. Matt Painter was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career, which is third-most in conference history behind legends Bobby Knight (five) and Gene Keady (seven) after earning at least a share of the Big Ten championship for the second time in three seasons. Edwards scored 21 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists while Nojel Eastern added a career-high 15 points to help the Boilermakers beat Northwestern 70-57 on Saturday and secure their 24th conference regular-season title.

ABOUT MINNESOTA (20-12): Amir Coffey, who has won the last two Big Ten Player of the Week awards, continued where he left off in the regular season as he led the way with 23 points and five assists in the win against Penn State. Dupree McBrayer added 18 points while fellow senior Jordan Murphy added 15 points and 14 rebounds against the Nittany Lions to register his third straight double-double. Daniel Oturu produced 10 points and five boards in his first conference tournament game as the Gophers dished out 18 assists compared to nine turnovers.

TIP-INS

1. Edwards has scored 30 or more points seven times in his career.

2. Coffey is averaging 27 points and 6.5 rebounds over his last four outings.

3. Purdue's last three wins against Minnesota have come by an average margin of 22.6 points.

PREDICTION: Purdue 78, Minnesota 66