With the Wisconsin Badgers getting set to host the Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Kohl Center on Thursday night, BadgerBlitz.com asked a few questions about this year's Gopher hoops team to E.J. Stevens of The Gopher Report to get the inside scoop on the goings-on in Minneapolis. Our questions and his answers are included below.

The Golden Gophers are 11-2 so far this season after finishing the 2017-18 season with a 15-17 record and a 4-14 mark in Big Ten play. Can you take us through a quick recap of what went wrong for Minnesota last year - and how things are different so far this season?

EJ Stevens: The Gophers had high hopes coming into last season because they were a team who finished 24-10 in 2016-17, were a five seed in the NCAA Tournament, and returned almost everybody from that team. The year started off on a sour note when key reserve forward Eric Curry (5.5 ppg, 5.2 reb. in 2016-17) tore his ACL in an August pickup game before the season. Non-conference play went well enough, with the Gophers going 11-2 with a couple quality wins over NCAA Tournament teams in Providence and Alabama. After an early January win over Illinois to bring Minnesota to 13-3 (2-1 B1G), the wheels began to come off completely. Star center Reggie Lynch, the nations top shot blocker at the time (4.1 blks), was suspended indefinitely and eventually expelled from school because of his second sexual assault allegation. He was averaging ten points and eight boards per game at the time to go along with his four-plus blocks per night. One day later, sophomore wing Amir Coffey (14.0 ppg, 4.1 reb., 3.3 assts.) was diagnosed with a shoulder injury and had to be shut down for the season. Starting shooting guard Dupree McBrayer dealt with a lingering stress fracture injury in his leg for the last two months of the season, but battled through the pain to try and contribute. He never seemed like himself after suffering the injury against Alabama in late November.

All-in-all, Minnesota spent the last three months of the season without three of its top six players and another one of its best players trying to play through significant pain. The Gophers won just two more games after Lynch and Coffey went out in early January.It's been a bit of a process to figure out the rotation this season, but things seem to be moving in the right direction as we head into Big Ten play. Jordan Murphy (15.7 ppg, 12.9 reb.) is truly one of the most underrated players in the country and is having a great senior year. Amir Coffey (15.1 ppg, 3.1 assts.) has taken his game up another notch this year, but the big thing with him just has to be consistency. His 32-point, six rebound, six assist game in the win over #24 Nebraska showed just how good he can be when he's aggressive and looking for his shot.The two losses are both on the road (Boston College and Ohio State), by a combined 32 points. In its 11 wins, the Gophers have won seven at Williams Arena and four at neutral sites. Minnesota has had great contributions from freshmen Gabe Kalscheur and Daniel Oturu. Both are averaging over ten points per game, while Kalscheur leads the team in three-point shooting (38%) and Oturu leads the team in blocked shots (2.1). Besides these two, point guard Isaiah Washington (5.2 ppg, 4.1 assts.) has shown flashes of brilliance in distributing the ball, but lacks consistency. Shooting guard Dupree McBrayer is fully healthy and back to averaging double figures in scoring. Forward Eric Curry finally returned from injury last game against Mount St. Mary's and chipped in four points and six boards in 17 minutes. His versatility, toughness and defense will provided a much needed boost and more depth to a talented frontcourt.

Is this a team that is still looking for a signature win? From what I can see their best win so far was a home win over a ranked Nebraska team in early December.

EJ Stevens: I think everyone is still looking for a signature win at this time of year. Minnesota has played seven Power 5 opponents already this season and has beaten five of them. While wins over Texas A&M, Utah and Oklahoma State might not hold much weight, they have all won at least one NCAA Tournament game, if not more, in the past couple years. Washington may be one of the top teams in the Pac-12 from a talent standpoint and the win over a ranked Nebraska team will certainly look good on Selection Sunday.A 5-2 record against Power 5 teams, with just one of those coming at Williams Arena, should be considered a respectable start to the year for the Gophers. There is certainly a ton of work to do as the team enters this 18-game conference game stretch, but there will be plenty of opportunities with a very strong Big Ten this year.

When things are working for the Gophers, who's getting the most touches on the offensive end of the court?

EJ Stevens: This offense runs through Jordan Murphy and Amir Coffey, so I'll say these two will be the ones who are playing well for the maroon and gold. Both these guys do most of their work in the paint and depend on getting to the basket and either scoring in-close or getting to the foul line.The guy who has had success in setting these two up this year is sophomore point guard Isaiah Washington. He's flashy, lightning-quick and when he's on his game he's driving into the paint, drawing extra defenders and setting up Coffey and Murphy for easy opportunities to score. He's had three games this year with at least ten assists. When Washington is breaking down the opposition and getting into the paint, his teammates are likely going to have very good offensive days.

What is Minnesota's biggest strength at the moment and their biggest weakness?

EJ Stevens: Minnesota's biggest strength right now is offensive rebounding. Jordan Murphy averages 3.7 offensive rebounds per game (1st in B1G) while Daniel Oturu brings down 3.5 (3rd in B1G). While these two are both excellent rebounders, both offensively and defensively, one of the reasons they rank so high in this category is because Minnesota misses so many shots. This brings me to the biggest weakness, which is the team's shooting. The Gophers are 11th in the Big Ten in field goal percentage (44.0 %) and dead last in 3FG% (30.6 %). The team has only one player who's attempted more than ten three-pointers shooting better than 35% from out there this season (Gabe Kalscheur-38%). The Gophers are shooting 57% on shots closer than five feet from the hoop and 32.9% on jump shots between 10-19 feet.13 games in, it hasn't hurt the Gophers horribly as they've been able to win 11 of those games, but Big Ten play could be rough if they don't find a way to pick the overall shooting numbers up.

Finally, how do you see this game playing out? Who wins and why?

EJ Stevens: Wisconsin has won eight straight games in this series and Minnesota hasn't won in Madison since 2009. The history is on the side of the Badgers and Wisconsin is coming off a tough loss to Western Kentucky, so they should be motivated. The Gophers are also 0-2 in true road games this year. They've combined to shoot 33% in those two losses to Boston College and Ohio State, hitting just five of its 38 (13%) attempted three-point shots in those contests.One thing Minnesota has on its side is front court depth. With Eric Curry back in the fold, Minnesota has at least four quality players that can play the forward and center positions. Minnesota has the depth and talent to beat Wisconsin at the Kohl Center, but I don't think it happens. The Gophers will look to pressure Happ and make him give up the ball, but he will use his stellar passing ability to get open shots for guys like Brad Davison, Brevin Pritzl and D'Mitrik Trice on the perimeter. In a game played in the low 60's, Wisconsin wins by two possessions, 66-61.

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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.