Nashville, Tenn. – After dropping the first two games of the season, the Tennessee State men’s basketball team hopes that the third time will be the charm when the squad takes on Minnesota on Thursday night.

In TSU’s last contest at South Dakota State, the Tigers fell behind by 15 at halftime, but dominated the Jacks in the second half. Still, TSU fell short, 71-78.

Forward Robert Covington was back to usual form for TSU, scoring 23 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.

Covington played big minutes in the game against the Jacks, but guard Patrick Miller played the entire 40 minutes for the Tigers.

Miller had a double-double with 12 points and a career-high 10 assists, but he attempted 18 shots while only making five.

Shooting was a problem all night for TSU as the team only made 37 percent of its shots.

However, the Tigers’ defense came up big for the team, forcing 16 SDSU turnovers and stealing the ball 13 times.

TSU will need to replicate that defensive performance against Minnesota on Thursday night, as the Golden Gophers have outscored opponents this season by an average of 31 points per game.

Minnesota is led by Austin Hollis and Rodney Williams who have combined to average 20.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game so far this season.

The Gophers are also coached by the legendary Tubby Smith who has amassed 492 career victories. While this is the first meeting between TSU and Minnesota, Smith is 2-0 versus the Tigers all-time.

The game will be broadcasted on ESPN3 at 7 p.m. Fans can watch the game, here.

--TSU Tigers--