[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Charted by many analysts to finish the season in the Big Ten cellar, the surprising Minnesota Golden Gophers (15-6, 5-3 Big Ten) face another hurdle in their quest for NCAA berth when they face No. 19 Wisconsin (14-4, 6-2) Saturday at Williams Arena.

Stemming from their 3-13 finish in the conference last year and the subsequent loss of team superstar Kris Humphries to the NBA, the Gophers have battled low expectations all season long.

“I think it surprised a lot of people — it surprised me,” Badger guard and Minneapolis native Kammron Taylor said. “Everything’s clicking for them right now. They’re playing as a team, and when you play as a team, your hearts are beating.”

After a 10-3 romp through the team’s non-conference schedule, all three of Minnesota’s Big Ten losses this season came at the hands of ranked teams — most recently last week against top-ranked Illinois.

With both Minnesota and Wisconsin on the rebound after succumbing to the Fighting Illini, the upcoming edition of this border battle carries more weight than recent confrontations. Wisconsin currently sits just a half-game ahead of Michigan State in the conference standings, while Minnesota trails the Badgers by a game.

Each squad will be looking to gain momentum in the race to secure precious real estate behind the Mean Orange Machine.

“[Minnesota] plays an awesome game,” Wisconsin center Andreas Helmigk said. “They’re going to be a tough team, especially in Minnesota — it’s a tough place to play. We better be prepared to come out, that’s all I can say.”

Behind the Gophers’ success this season lies a renaissance of defense. Minnesota allowed an average of 71.7 points per game (73.1 in conference play) in 2003-04. This year, the Gophers have chopped that figure down to a more respectable 63.8. While building on the type of big-play defense Minnesota often survived on last year, head coach Dan Monson’s squad has also improved fundamentally.

“They’ve got players,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said. “They’ve got size; they’ve got quickness; they’ve got some length. They got a little bit of everything, and they’re playing [well] — sharing the ball, moving it, attacking, playing good team defense. That’s how you play better.”

Even without Humphries anchoring the post, the Gophers sport a great deal of talent in their frontcourt. This season, 6-foot-9 freshman forwards Dan Coleman and Brent Lawson have joined senior center Jeff Hagan to form a formidable, albeit inexperienced, front line for Minnesota.

With the opposition’s driving lanes closing up as quickly as the Gophers’ long arms can reach, fleet-footed penetration scorers have found less success against Minnesota this season. Monson’s squad currently sits seventh in the Big Ten in shooting defense with 42.9 percent (up from a bottom-dwelling 45.6 percent last season) and trails only Wisconsin at guarding the perimeter, allowing just 32.1 percent from beyond the arc.

According to Wisconsin senior forward Mike Wilkinson, Minnesota’s increased success on the perimeter is also a product of the imposing stature of the Gopher frontcourt.

“They’re a long team. Ever since I’ve been here, they’ve been a long team,” Wilkinson said. “They’ve always been among the top teams (in the conference) in steals, and I think that translates into perimeter defense — they’re always closing out. And why wouldn’t you close out hard on shooters when you got seven-footers behind you blocking shots?”

On the offensive end of the court, the Gophers have also experienced an increase in productivity. Without Humphries — who heaved up well over a quarter of Minnesota’s shots in 2003-04 — the team has benefited from greater ball movement as the Gophers’ shooting accuracy leaped from 42.4 to 48.1 percent from the field.

Even though guard Vincent Grier safely holds the team scoring lead at 16.3 ppg, freshman Rico Tucker (8.0 ppg), senior Aaron Robinson (8.4), Coleman (9.1) and Hagan (12.0) have each pitched in frequently.

“They’re not relying on any one person,” Wilkinson said. “Everyone’s going out there and playing as hard as they can every night, and it’s really showed.”

Wisconsin swingman Alando Tucker returned to practice this week, but in a limited capacity. Ryan declined to speculate on the sophomore’s availability, saying the decision to start Tucker won’t arrive until closer to tip-off. With Tucker still in question, the Badgers may look again to sophomore off-guard Kammron Taylor to provide the offense with a spark going inside.

Over the summer, Taylor got an opportunity to play pick-up ball with Gophers Coleman, Robinson, Grier and Tucker, though he asserts the informal matches gave him little insight into Minnesota’s game or ability.

Taylor — who has scored in double digits three of his last four games — said he is excited to return to his hometown. Although, after fellow guard Sharif Chambliss’ cold homecoming welcome at Penn State last weekend, Taylor hopes to avoid getting too wrapped up in the atmosphere.

“He had it bad last weekend,” Taylor said of Chambliss’ experience in Happy Valley. “As soon as he stepped on the floor they started booing him, and every time he touched the ball they started booing him. It might be the same this weekend [for me]; it might not. But I can’t dwell on it.”