Grocholski leads Minnesota against Northwestern after 22-point performance

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Northwestern Wildcats (6-9, 0-4 Big Ten) at Minnesota Golden Gophers (10-4, 1-2 Big Ten)

Minneapolis; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Minnesota hosts Northwestern after Grace Grocholski scored 22 points in Minnesota's 70-60 loss to the Michigan Wolverines.

The Golden Gophers are 7-1 in home games. Minnesota is 0-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Wildcats are 0-4 against Big Ten opponents. Northwestern allows 72.6 points to opponents and has been outscored by 6.0 points per game.

Minnesota scores 76.9 points per game, 4.3 more points than the 72.6 Northwestern allows. Northwestern averages 5.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.6 fewer makes per game than Minnesota gives up.

The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Amaya Battle is averaging 8.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the Golden Gophers. Grocholski is averaging 14.5 points over the last 10 games.

Grace Sullivan is scoring 23.4 points per game with 7.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists for the Wildcats. Tayla Thomas is averaging 10.1 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 41.2% over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Golden Gophers: 6-4, averaging 70.9 points, 35.1 rebounds, 15.2 assists, 8.0 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 42.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 55.0 points per game.

Wildcats: 1-9, averaging 64.5 points, 28.9 rebounds, 17.3 assists, 6.7 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 42.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 78.0 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.