Gophers favored by large margin in opener against Oral Roberts

Did you know that Oral Roberts was 18-0 in the Summit League just two seasons ago?

Gophers forwards Trey Edmonds and Parker Fox. / University of Minnesota

The 2024-25 Minnesota men's basketball regular season begins Wednesday night at Williams Arena agaisnt Oral Roberts and the Golden Gophers are favored to win by 16.5 points.

Blowouts have been the norm for Big Ten teams against non-conference opponents to start the season. All 15 teams from the conference that opened the season Monday or Tuesday were victorious, and only two teams — Ohio State and Washington — didn't win in blowout fashion.

• Purdue 90, A&M Corpus Christi 73
• Michigan State 81, Monmouth 57
• Maryland 79, Manhattan 49
• Penn State 108, Binghamton 66
• Wisconsin 85, Holy Cross 61
• Iowa 89, Texas A&M-Commerce 67
• Northwestern 90, Lehigh 46
• Michigan 101, Cleveland State 53
• Nebraska 87, UTRGV 67
• Illinois 112, Eastern Illinois 67
• USC 77, Chattanooga 51
• Ohio State 80, Texas 72
• Oregon 91, UC Riverside 76
• UCLA 85, Rider 50
• Washington 79, UC Davis 73

Minnesota, Rutgers and Indiana are the last of the Big Ten teams to open the season and all three wll be on the court Wednesday night. 

The biggest test for the Gophers will be slowing down Oral Roberts star Issac McBride, who was named the Summit League's preseason player of the year on a Golden Eagles team that was picked by the media to finish fifth in the conference.

The game starts at 7 p.m. CT and will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.