GAME NOTES: Making their first appearance in the 2015 Big Ten Conference Tournament, the sixth-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes face off against the 11th- seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Minnesota opened the tourney on Wednesday with an 80-68 win over No. 14 seed Rutgers, putting an end to the Scarlet Knights' season. The Gophers entered this event having lost five of their previous six games and they are now four games over .500 on the campaign (18-14), improving to 13-15 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament. UM has never won the championship, and the team has appeared in only title tilt, losing to Ohio State in 2010, 90-61.

Ohio State has logged 22 wins on the season, and if you take away the embarrassing 72-48 home loss to Wisconsin in the regular-season finale last weekend, the squad has enjoyed another successful campaign. The Buckeyes have won more Big Ten Tournament titles (five) than any other team in the league, and their last came in 2013 in a 50-43 over Wisconsin. OSU is 29-12 in the event, and it has reached the finals a total of nine times.

Ohio State slipped past Minnesota in Minneapolis in the only meeting between the two teams during the regular season, 74-72 in overtime, and the Buckeyes lead the all-time series by an 82-56 margin.

Joey King drained six 3-pointers en route to 20 points, as his Golden Gophers got past Rutgers in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday. King was joined in double figures by Carlos Morris with 16 points, Nate Mason with 15 and Maurice Walker with 10. Walker also added 10 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots to his stat line, as Minnesota shot 51.7 percent from the field, using a 60.6 percent effort in the second half to break open a close game. The Scarlet Knights shot 45 percent from the floor, but went 5-of-15 from distance and 9-of-15 at the free-throw line, while also committing 15 turnovers. UM's leading scorer on the season, Andre Hollins (14 ppg), missed all five of his field goal attempts, three from 3-point range, in failing to score a single point.

Ohio State is one of the more well-rounded teams in the Big Ten, as it ranks second in both scoring offense (76.0 ppg) and scoring defense (61.6 ppg). The Buckeyes are tops in field goal percentage (.488), and they rank fourth in 3- point field goal percentage (.376). They will look to utilize the considerable talents of Big Ten Freshman of the Year D'Angelo Russell (19.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 5.2 apg), The talented rookie doesn't do it all himself though, as six others average between 6.0 and 10.2 ppg. Both Russell and Big Ten assist champ Shannon Scott have well over 150 helpers apiece, the Buckeyes being credited with 15.4 assists per contest, and their +3.74 turnover margin has them just off the pace of league-leading Minnesota (+4.81).

Thad Matta (399-123, 297-92 at Ohio State) is on the cusp of reaching a couple of significant milestones, as he needs just one victory to become the winningest coach in program history, and also to reach 400 wins for his career. Expect the Buckeyes to get their coach the records he seeks, as they ride Russell into the quarterfinals.