Gophers look to learn from loss ahead of Saturday's showdown with Yale

Minnesota is coming off an ugly nonconference loss to North Texas on Wednesday.

Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson looks on during the second half against Omaha at Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Nov. 9, 2024. / Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

There are more new faces than returners this season for the Gophers men’s basketball team. If integrating all the new faces into the lineup wasn’t difficult enough of a task, the team has been plagued by injuries in the early season.

That all came to a head Wednesday night when a terrible first half doomed the Gophers in a 54-51 nonconference loss to North Texas at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the game, it’s one the Gophers should have won. But between the new-look roster and injuries, it's clear it's not all clicking for Minnesota yet.

“It just takes time to get into a rhythm,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson said after Wednesday's game. “... What you hope is that if you stick to the work and you continue to do the things that we do and you stay detail-oriented that over time you’re going to develop those habits that, eventually, you’ll figure it out.

“The hard part is that it just comes with time. It comes with experience, and you want to be able to learn those through wins, but we still gotta learn through this loss. There were some good things out there, and hopefully the learning curve will set in and we can flip it and get a good win on Saturday.” 

Minnesota is set to host Yale on Saturday at The Barn, and injuries will remain impactful. Starting guard Mike Mitchell Jr. will likely be out again, and he's expected to miss weeks with an ankle sprain. That's a big blow for the Gophers as he's expanded his role this season as one of the team's primary ball handlers. Mitchell is also the team's best shooter.

The ball movement took a hit in his absence Wednesday. Mitchell had 12 assists in the first two games, resulting in 25 for the Gophers as a team in the season-opening win over Oral Roberts and 14 in the victory over Omaha. Against North Texas, they mustered just nine. They missed his shooting, too, as the U shot a season-low 31% in Wednesday's loss.

Another element to sort out on the new-look roster is who can be a secondary scoring option outside of Dawson Garcia, who's been off to a strong start this season. While Garcia has scored at least 24 points in each of the Gophers' first three games, there's been little offensive production elsewhere. Garcia has scored 78 of the team's 199 points (39%).

Parker Fox and Lu'Cye Patterson scored 13 and 10, respectively, in the season opener, and Trey Edmonds had 12 against Omaha. No other Gophers players have scored in double figures this year, and Garcia was the only player to do so against North Texas. With Mitchell out, it's even more important for the U to identify a secondary scoring option.

Some of that will come with time, but the Gophers will need to figure some things out before Saturday's showdown with Yale. Hopefully they learn from the loss and come ready to play for Saturday's 3 p.m. tipoff at The Barn.

"Even in a loss, we got to be able to find a way to take a step," Johnson said. "New guys and new situations, it's so key to just continue to take those steps. It's huge because, obviously, these games are going to keep coming and there's so much to be learned early in the year when you're trying to figure out your team and yourself. I don't want these guys to have doubt creep in. We're still in the early learning stages, and we got to just continue to be growth minded and continue to just keep pushing."