Ben Johnson's Gophers vision is starting to come to fruition

Minnesota has opportunities to build on its early success, starting Tuesday against Michigan State.

Gophers men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson went into detail about his long-term vision for the program after the U’s 75-66 overtime victory over Northwestern on Saturday, explaining that you need to go through the “suck” to get where you want to be, especially at a program like Minnesota. 

Johnson’s vision is starting to pay dividends. The win over Northwestern was the Gophers’ second straight Big Ten victory, and they’re currently 14-7 overall with a 5-5 mark in conference play. That success is a direct result of Johnson sticking with his vision for the program, which is to build it, slowly but surely, from the ground up.

Second-year transfer Dawson Garcia is the team’s leading scorer. Sophomores Pharrel Payne, Josh Ola-Joseph and Braeden Carrington have all made strides this season.

First-year transfers Elijah Hawkins and Mike Mitchell Jr. have been the right fits for the program. And four-star freshman Cam Christie, who was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday, is quickly developing into an impact player for the U, as well.

And all of those players have eligibility beyond this season.

“We’ve been intentional of trying to get transfers for multi years. We’ve been intentional in Year 2 of getting younger and having guys that we think are developmental guys,” Johnson said. “I think you’re seeing that with (Carrington) and (Ola-Joseph) and (Payne). They’re only sophomores. To think that these guys, if they stick around, have two more years to play, I’m excited about how good they’ll be in years ahead.

“… You gotta have patience with it, you gotta have conviction with it, ‘cause I get it, with the portal, everybody thinks everybody should be able to quick-fix it, then there’s reality of, if you’re doing it, you better hit it and it’s gotta be consistent every year cause if you don’t, then all of a sudden you can take two steps back. And we want to get to a point where once you hit a good stretch, now you’re building on that. And I just think the way you build on it is just continuing to recruit high school and have kids that will hopefully be in your program multiple years and then you add pieces here or there, you’re not trying to add four or five every year from the portal and try to hit on those four or five, I just think that’s really hard, especially here at Minnesota.”

Johnson's vision is starting to come to fruition, and the Gophers are starting to hit that "good stretch." Now it's time for them to continue to build on it, starting with Tuesday's matchup against Michigan State at 8 p.m. at The Barn. It's certainly a winnable game for the Gophers, and a Quad 1 win that would go a long way in bolstering their resume, and proving they're ready to take the next step. 

The Gophers last faced the Spartans on Jan. 18 in East Lansing, Mich., a 76-66 Gophers loss. Minnesota hung tough for the better part of the game, even down Hawkins, its starting point guard and arguably most valuable player. 

Hawkins did suffer an ankle injury during Saturday’s win over Northwestern but returned to finish the game. His status for Tuesday is unclear. 

“Ankle seems to be OK,” Johnson said of Hawkins’ injury. “We did not do anything live yesterday, we just did all film and walkthrough, so I probably won’t have an idea until this afternoon when we go through practice. That’ll be a wait and see.”

As far as things to build on from Saturday’s game, Johnson liked the team’s defensive effort. The Gophers held the Wildcats — a team that scored 96 points their previous time out against No. 2 Purdue — to 66 points in a game that took an extra five minutes. Continuing to build on that performance, Johnson said, will be key to Tuesday night’s battle against the Spartans.

“I thought our ball screen defense was really good (against Northwestern), and our ability to chase screening actions was really good, so we kinda upped the standard there, and we’re going to see a lot of that come (Tuesday) with Michigan State,” Johnson said. “I think it’s hold each other accountable to that level of play on the defensive side of the ball. I’ve always been comfortable with us offensively, finding ways to get good shots, scored the ball, but we’ve really tried to emphasize: Can we take a step defensively this second half of conference play?”

Tune in Tuesday to find out. 

Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson reacts during the first half against Northwestern at Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Feb. 3, 2024.

Matt Krohn / USA TODAY Sports