Next up in the Big Ten's big man gantlet for the Gophers is Michigan's 7-1 center Hunter Dickinson in Thursday's conference home opener at Williams Arena.
Dickinson was arguably the best 7-footer returning in the Big Ten this season, but that was before Purdue's 7-4 Zach Edey turned into an early national player of the year favorite.
Edey kept his breakout season going in last Sunday's 89-70 win against the Gophers with 31 points and 22 rebounds. Dickinson's not far behind with his dominance this season leading the Wolverines with a career-high 19.6 points and 9.1 rebounds this season.
"The benefit of going against them back-to-back is there are a lot of similar principles defensively," Gophers coach Ben Johnson said. "Hunter is very skilled in the low post. He's a good passer. There's a lot of similarities. The biggest difference is Hunter can pick and pop."
Dickinson enters Thursday with four 20-plus point performances this year, including a 31-point effort on Nov. 11 against Eastern Michigan. He put up 23 points in back-to-back narrow losses to Kentucky and Virginia in the last two games.
A different type of threat than Edey with his ability to stretch the floor, Dickinson hit 24 three-pointers in the last two seasons. In his lone matchup with the Gophers last year, he had 19 points and 10 rebounds in a 75-65 Gophers victory in Ann Arbor.
Two years ago, Dickinson torched the Gophers with 28 points in a blowout win at Michigan, but he struggled with just nine points in a Wolverines loss on the road.
The Gophers are getting sophomore center Treyton Thompson back after missing Sunday's Purdue loss with an illness. The 7-foot Thompson started the first seven games, but he was replaced in the lineup by freshman Joshua Ola-Joseph, who had 10 points against the Boilermakers.
