Three senior basketball players from Minnesota — Paige Bueckers, Dawson Garcia and Jalen Suggs — were selected for the 2020 McDonald's All-American Games on April 1 at Houston's Toyota Center.
Bueckers, a 5-11 guard for Hopkins who has signed with Connecticut, is trying to lead the Royals to a second consecutive undefeated season.
Garcia, a 6-11 forward with Prior Lake, has signed with Marquette. Suggs, a 6-5 point guard, recently said he will attend Gonzaga.
The girls' game will be shown live at 4 p.m. on ESPN2, the boys' game at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
Top two teams clash
The No. 2 Gophers women's hockey team will play No. 1 Wisconsin at 7 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday in LaBahn Arena in a key WCHA series.
Minnesota, which has played two more conference games, leads the second-place Badgers by five points (39-34) in the conference standings.
The Gophers (20-2-3, 12-2-2-1 WCHA) took five of a possible six points from the Badgers with a 4-2 win and 2-2 overtime tie and shootout win Nov. 2-3 at Ridder Arena.
Minnesota is coming off a split with No. 5 Ohio State; Wisconsin (21-2-1, 11-2-1) split with Bemidji State two weekends ago.
U cornerback to stay
Gophers cornerback Phillip Howard is no longer in the NCAA transfer portal and is still on the team, a source confirmed Thursday. The Minneapolis native entered the portal, indicating he was considering transferring, earlier this month. It's unclear what caused the change of heart.
A product of Cooper, Howard was a redshirt junior for the Gophers this past season, when he played 11 games, mostly on special teams.
Etc.
• Carl Fish, a 6-2, 209-pound defenseman with the NAHL's Bismarck Bobcats, announced on Twitter he has committed to the Gophers.
• The St. Paul Saints re-signed former Gophers outfielder Dan Motl.
• Sophomore Joy Zhu of the Gophers was named the Big Ten diver of the week. She placed second on the 1-meter board and third on the 3-meter board in the Bruins Diving Invitational in Los Angeles.
• Gustavus hurdler Taylor Rooney was named the USTFCCCA Division III national athlete of the week. The junior from Andover won the 60-meter hurdles in the Minnesota State Mankato Invitational, finishing with a time below 8.1 seconds for the fourth time this season.
