The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Sports Friday, February 2, 2018 — 7 Behind Enemy Lines: Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy and Nate Mason Michigan fans don’t particularly like Minnesota point guard Nate Mason. After a near-double- double and 20-point outing in the Golden Gophers’ two games against the Wolverines last season, the resentment makes sense. But when Mason took Big Ten first-team honors over Derrick Walton Jr. for the 2016-17 season, the indignation reached another level. After all was said and done, though, it was Michigan that got the last laugh. The Wolverines were catapulted to the Sweet Sixteen because of Walton’s elite play, while Mason and Minnesota suffered a first round upset to Middle Tennessee State. Forward Jordan Murphy wasn’t discussed as much as Mason, but he still had his way against Michigan last year. In the first contest, especially, Murphy wiped the floor with the Wolverines, notching 16 points and 15 rebounds in an overtime victory. The 2017-18 season has been a flipped script for the Golden Gophers (3-8 Big Ten, 14-10 overall). Dealing with the loss of three key players, Minnesota is positioned at the bottom of the Big Ten standings. Golden Gophers will need more frequent All-American performances by Murphy and Mason to maintain a thread of hope to resurrect an already-disappointing season. The Daily sat down with Murphy and Mason at Big Ten Media Day in October to talk about battling depth issues, their lack of roster turnover and what their expectations for the season were. The Michigan Daily: The team didn’t face a lot of roster turnover from last year. What improvements are you hoping to see this season? Have any of them been on display after the offseason? Jordan Murphy: Building off the chemistry we had last year is one of the biggest things I was looking forward to. Really one of my goals. We do a good job of hanging out off the court to build that chemistry. Just staying connected with each other, whether that’s a group chat or just talking. It’s one of the most important things that we’ve done. Nate Mason: We’re definitely a little more connected. Our chemistry is there. But we’ve still got two, three new guys that we need to rely on to help us out. Isaiah Washington, Jamir Harris, Davonte Fitzgerald. Those are three new guys that are gonna play this year. We gotta get them on the same page. It’s gonna take a while, but it’s better now than before it’s too late. TMD: Before the season even began, the team lost Eric Curry for the year because of an ACL tear. How do you plan on making up for that loss? JM: We’re trying guys at different positions. We’re getting Davonte ready for when he’s ready to go full contact. Mixing it up a bit with the big men. Having guys step up in that position, knowing that there are rebounds to get, there are points and minutes to be had. Making sure guys understand that and making sure they step up is the biggest thing. NM: Eric was a very good player for us coming off the bench last year. He primarily backed up Murphy. But we’ve got Davonte Fitzgerald. He’s gonna come in and take that spot. He’s getting healthy and he’s gonna be good. It’s just a matter of being healthy and being in sync. Also gotta keep Murphy out of foul trouble. TMD: Winning eight of your last nine games last season propelled Minnesota to the NCAA Tournament. What was going well during that stretch that you think can continue into this season? JM: Guys started to understand their roles more. As to the rest of the season, the guys started to really find their niches inside of their lineups. We started making good lineups that meshed well with each other. Guys started to get in the gym more and work harder and harder as it got towards the end of the season. NM: I mean, it was just a will. We sat down as a team, had a team meeting, a players-only meeting. We just discussed the will. We put it out there and we wanted to fix it. We were focused, locked in and that was it. TMD: Minnesota is projected to finish top three in the Big Ten standings this year. What are your expectations for the season? JM: Our goal is always gonna be a Big Ten title. That’s the first thing on our mind. Always gotta think about the big goals that we have for our team and that’s the main thing: a Big Ten title. NM: We want to win the Big Ten title. That’s our goal: we want a Big Ten title. We’ve got a chance to do it, and the only thing that can stop us is ourselves. This is the most talented team I’ve ever been around, it’s crazy. If we pull all together and play as one, we have a chance. Michigan set to face struggling Golden Gophers To say that things aren’t going as planned for Minnesota would be an understatement. Slated as the preseason consensus No. 3 team in the Big Ten, the Golden Gophers (3-8 Big Ten, 14-10 overall) currently sit tied for 11th place in the conference standings with just seven games remaining. Their 10 losses are as many as they had all of last season. Minnesota’s plunge to bottom- dweller status is largely a result of the roster hits it has taken — most notably center Reggie Lynch, who is under investigation by the university for multiple sexual assault allegations. Lynch was last season’s Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and without him, the Golden Gophers sit second to last in the conference in scoring defense. Minnesota has also suffered from the absences of starting shooting guard Amir Coffey — who is day-to-day with a recurring shoulder injury — and sixth man Eric Curry with an ACL tear. Coffey played over 33 minutes per game last season as the team’s best finisher, while Curry notched nearly 20 minutes per game as the team’s sixth man. Amid injury and controversy in a disappointing year, the Golden Gophers enter Crisler Center on Saturday on a four-game losing streak and with little to play for except pride. A victory on the road over No. 24 Michigan (7-4, 18-6), though, would be significant for Minnesota. Enduring what looks like a lost season, Minnesota coach Richard Pitino now views each tough game as an opportunity to flatten the learning curve. “I equate it to when Nate (Mason), Dupree (McBrayer) and (Jordan Murphy) two years ago were in the game,” Pitino said on Jan. 18. “And as painful as it was at times, it was helpful to them in their growth.” Despite Minnesota’s struggles, it’s been Murphy — not the bench or newcomers — who has picked up the most slack. The junior forward is having a banner year, averaging 17.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, a block and a steal per game. Without Lynch, Murphy has spearheaded an impressive rebounding effort — the Golden Gophers are second in the conference in offensive rebounding and third in defensive rebounding. And if Michigan coach John Beilein loves anything about his team, it’s how it keeps opponents off the glass. While the Wolverines don’t grab many offensive boards themselves — they’re last in the conference — they boast the highest defensive rebounding percentage in the Big Ten. “There’s one thing I care about on the glass: Don’t let them get offensive rebounds,” Beilein said on Jan. 12. “That’s all it is. You see numbers, (but) the number is what’s the percentage of offensive rebounds they got. And we’re one of the better ones in the country at not allowing offensive rebounds. … I don’t care about how many rebounds they get, we’re like No. 1 in defensive transition. You’ve gotta pick your poison there.” Added senior guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman after Monday’s game: “I like how gritty we were on the boards. Everybody was crashing the boards on (Northwestern), and we held them to seven offensive rebounds. Any time you can limit teams to less than 10, you’re gonna win the game.” For a Michigan offense that has scored 27 points or less in the first half in four of its last five games, controlling the glass and exploiting one of the conference’s weakest defenses could likely foretell the final outcome. With a chance to add one bright spot to its gloomy season, Minnesota will have to exceed expectations and rebound in more ways than one. Against the Wolverines, that opportunity may be hard to come by. ETHAN WOLFE Daily Sports Editor ETHAN WOLFE Daily Sports Editor SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily Minnesota forward Jordan Murphy believed his team could win the Big Ten before the season, but injuries have since crippled the Golden Gophers. The two Golden Gophers sat down with the Daily at Big Ten Media Day in October to discuss the upcoming season EVAN AARON/Daily Senior guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman cited his team’s ability on the boards as a positive in Michigan’s victory over Northwestern on Monday. “We do a good job of hanging out off the court.” “Eric (Curry) was a very good player for us ... last year.” “We’re definitely a little more connected.”