Ben Johnson, Gophers face early make-or-break week in non-con play

This week of games could make or break the Gophers' nonconference schedule.

Nov 9, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Ben Johnson looks on during the second half against the Omaha Mavericks at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images / Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Ben Johnson is sneakily facing one of the most important weeks he's had since becoming the head coach of Gophers men's basketball. A pair of nonconference games against North Texas and Yale on Wednesday and Saturday can have a huge early impact on the outlook of Minnesota's 2024-25 season.

Saturday's closely-contested win over Omaha raised some eyebrows about this team's season-long outlook. The Mavericks rank outside the top 300 in KenPom and Minnesota was favored to win the game by more than 20 points, so a four-point win wasn't overly convincing.

"The good part is — what I told our guys is we needed a game like this, badly," Johnson said after the game. "We needed to feel game pressure on both sides of the ball. Another reason we scheduled this is because I knew how they played would hopefully prepare us for Wednesday against North Texas. I didn't want that game to be the first time we saw toughness, physicality, holding the paint, guarding the paint, making you use stuff on the perimeter. So, this was a great, great test. It's always good to be able to figure out the answers after a win and credit to our guys, they found a way to win."

Minnesota left Saturday with more than just a close win, as veteran guard Mike Mitchell Jr. needed to get carried into the locker room with what looked like an ankle injury. Johnson said the team has hope that it's nothing serious. The Gophers could be getting reinforcements via the return of big man Frank Mitchell, who will be a "game-time" decision against North Texas.

When the Gophers released their nonconference schedule for the season, it was pretty apparent that there were not many marquee games. They have a holiday tournament at the end of the month where they'll face Wichita State then Wake Forest or Florida, but this week's games against North Texas and Yale are their only other two matchups against teams ranked inside the KenPom top 200.

After games against the current 257th (Oral Roberts) and 285th-ranked teams (Omaha), the Gophers will see a massive step up in competition this week against No. 73-ranked North Texas and No. 114-ranked Yale.

The Mean Green and Bulldogs don't play in major conferences, but both programs have won games in the NCAA Tournament in the last five seasons. November might seem too early to talk about resumes, but a loss to either team at home would be at best a Quad 2 loss, but more likely a Quad 3 loss, which would shrink the margin for error the Gophers have in Big Ten play if they want a shot at going dancing in March. They'll have to play a lot better than they did against Omaha for that to even be a possibility this season.

Wins against two solid opponents this week could regenerate some excitement for the Gophers' season, but a loss or two could be a huge blow to their NCAA Tournament chances less than two weeks into the campaign.