GAME NOTES: The nightcap of the first round in the 2015 Big Ten Conference Tournament features a matchup between No. 14 seed Rutgers and No. 11 seed Minnesota.

All games are being at the United Center in Chicago, and the winner will advance to the quarterfinal round on Thursday to challenge No. 6 seed Ohio State.

Rutgers limps into the event in the midst of a horrific 14-game losing streak, with its last win coming in an improbable upset of regular-season champion Wisconsin at home back on Jan. 11. The Scarlet Knights have really struggled in their first season in the Big Ten, winning only two of 18 league bouts to finish in last place, and they are 10-21 overall.

Minnesota enters this event having lost five of its last six games, with three of those setbacks coming at home. The Golden Gophers are three games over .500 on the campaign (17-14), but lost twice as many Big Ten games as they won (6-12). Minnesota is 12-15 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament, and it has never won the championship. The Gophers reached the title game once, losing to Ohio State in 2010, 90-61.

Minnesota owns a 3-0 series advantage over Rutgers, and that includes an 89-80 home win on Jan. 17 in the only regular-season meeting between the clubs.

With their record being what it is, it's certainly not a surprise that Rutgers is the lowest scoring team in the Big Ten (59.0 ppg). The squad isn't totally devoid of talent however, as both Myles Mack (13.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 4.2 apg) and Kadeem Jack (12.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg) have done what they could, but a lackluster supporting cast has left the Scarlet Knights scuffling just to remain competitive most nights. RU ranks last in the league in field goal percentage (.390) and next-to-last in 3-point accuracy (.294), all while draining the fewest treys of any team in the Big Ten with 147 (4.7 per outing).

Minnesota's issues this season stem from the fact that opposing teams knocked down 36.7 percent of their 3-point tries against the Gophers, ranking them 13th in the Big Ten in that department. As a result, UM surrendered 67.3 ppg to finish next-to-last in the league, and the team also had difficulty corralling loose balls, logging a -2.3 rebounding margin to rank 12th. Offensively, the Gophers rank third in the Big Ten with an average of 74.1 ppg, relying heavily on the long-range shot (.382, third) more so than their opportunities at the charity stripe (.671, 12th). The team boasts three double-digit scorers in Andre Hollins (14.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.7 apg), Maurice Walker (12.0 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and Carlos Morris (10.9 ppg), with a few others close to joining them.

Mack went off for 26 points and eight assists in the first meeting between the teams this season, while Jack tacked on 19. However, the Gophers got 31 points from Hollins, and scored 26 points off 19 Scarlet Knight turnovers in earning the nine-point victory. Expect more offensive fireworks, but for the result to be the same.