MINNEAPOLIS -- Richard Pitino wants to make sure his players arent reading too much into their 6-0 record.After impressive wins against St. Johns and Arkansas, some Minnesota players said they expected an easier time against mid-major Southern Illinois.You cant overlook anybody; we cant do that, Pitino said Saturday night after his Gophers beat Southern Illinois 57-45. We should be a no-ego program. We have not earned the right to have an ego.Amir Coffey had 13 points, Nate Mason and Dupree McBrayer each scored 11 against the scrappy Salukis, who never led in the second half but always seemed within striking distance.With upcoming games against Florida State and Vanderbilt in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge next week, the Gophers acknowledged they may have gotten ahead of themselves.Came out flat, thinking it was going to be an easy game, McBrayer said. So weve just got to have the mindset that every game is going to be like a Big Ten game, or a Big Ten feel.The Gophers (6-0) won despite missing starting center Reggie Lynch, who sat with an ankle injury. Even without the 6-foot-10 Lynch -- whos averaging nine points and 3.6 blocks per game -- the Gophers size advantage ground down a Salukis team that entered the game averaging 81 points per game.Minnesotas much taller backcourt held Mike Rodriguez -- SIUs leading scorer -- to seven points, half his season average. Thik Bol led The Salukis (3-3) with 15 points, but no other Southern Illinois player had more than seven.This game tonight was two ends of the spectrum, Salukis coach Barry Hinson said. We played phenomenal defense and then we played, I wouldnt say bad offense, but we just didnt produce when the shots were there.Southern Illinois led by four in the first half before hitting an eight-minute scoring drought. The Gophers took advantage, ripping off a 12-0 run that put them in front for good.BIG PICTURESouthern Illinois: The Salukis, who didnt lose their third game last season until Jan. 9 against Wichita State, had their three-game winning streak snapped and are 0-2 against major-conference teams this season. They lost to Arkansas by 25 earlier this month, and will have at least one more chance to beat a major team this year at Louisville on Dec. 7.Minnesota: The Gophers are 6-0 for the first time since the 2011-12 season. All six games, though, have come at home; it marks the first time since 1999 that Minnesota has opened with six straight home games. They went 6-0 that year, too.FREE-THROW WOESMinnesota made a season-low 12 free throws on 22 attempts, which played a big part in allowing Southern Illinois to hang around.You know what happens, you miss a couple and then all of a sudden everybody gets a little tight, Pitino said.SILVER DEFENSIVE LININGSHinson called the game Southern Illinois best defensive performance of the young season. We just held a Big Ten team to 18 percent from the 3 and 38 percent for the game and we are the first team to do that in their six games. We are the first team to hold them under 80 points, Hinson said.UP NEXTSouthern Illinois will host Murray State next Tuesday; the Racers will try to snap a two-game skid Saturday against Alabama A&M.Minnesota travels for the first time this season to face Florida State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. It gets a lot tougher now going on the road, so well see how we look with more adversity I guess, Pitino said. Cheap Sneakers Australia . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period. Sneakers Australia . 4 Villanova with a 96-68 drubbing on Monday. Wragge hit 9-of-14 from behind the arc, matching Kyle Korvers school record for 3-pointers in a game set in 2003, as Creighton (16-3, 6-1 Big East broke a conference record with 21 treys in the rout. http://www.discountsneakersaustralia.com/ . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. Sneakers Australia Outlet . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Adidas Sneakers Australia . - After leading the Saints to a fourth playoff appearance in five seasons, Drew Brees expressed confidence in the direction of his team and, perhaps more importantly, showed a willingness to listen to contract proposals if the team needs his help getting under the NFLs salary cap. LOS ANGELES -- After months of negotiations and the threat of a purse bid looming Monday, representatives for unified middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin and secondary titlist (and mandatory challenger) Daniel Jacobs said Saturday they have made a deal for the fight that will match the top two 160-pounders in the world.The bout is slated for March 18 at Madison Square Garden in New York, and will be televised on HBO PPV, Golovkin said.Later Saturday, Golovkin met with reporters for lunch to discuss the fight.Its big news for me. I am very excited, he said. I think its a very big fight and great fight for you guys to watch. Danny is an amazing fighter. He is a tough opponent and No. 2 in the middleweight division. He is my toughest opponent. Hopefully, I fight three times next year. There are big plans for 2017 (but) right now I am focused on Jacobs and I am here to fight.Although the fight most boxing fans want to see is Golovkin against Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez -- a bout in the works for September -- both need to win intervening fights, and a Golovkin-Jacobs match is a significant one.Im excited about facing GGG and proving Im the best middleweight in the world, Jacobs said in a statement to ESPN. On March 18 Im bringing all the belts back to Brooklyn with me.K2 Promoter Tom Loeffler, who represents GGG, and Al Haymon, adviser to Jacobs, have beenn working on making this fight since September, when both fighters scored knockout wins one day apart.dddddddddddd In his fourth defense, Jacobs (32-1, 29 KOs) knocked out Sergio Mora in the seventh round of their rematch Sept. 9. Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) stopped Kell Brook in the fifth round Sept. 10, to retain his title for the 17th time as he scored his 23rd knockout in a row.But talks moved very slowly and it looked as though the fight might go to a purse bid. Had that happened, Golovkin, a Kazakhstan native based in Santa Monica, California, would have been entitled to 75 percent of the winning bid and Jacobs would have received the remaining 25 percent.Although terms of the March fight were not disclosed, Jacobs certainly will get a much bigger slice of the pie than 25 percent by making a deal, but the fight will stay with HBO, which has Golovkin under exclusive contract.The 34-year-old Golovkin also has deep ties to Madison Square Garden as opposed to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where Jacobs, 29, is the face of the boxing franchise for the arena in his borough.Golovkin-Jacobs took so long to negotiate that in mid-October the sides gave up a proposed Dec. 10 date for the fight and agreed to try to make the deal for early 2017. ' ' '