Minnesota faces Oral Roberts, looks to veterans for leadership

After enduring four losing seasons in a row, Minnesota bounced back last season with 19 wins and its best winning percentage since the 2018-19 campaign.

Now, the Golden Gophers will try to put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in a decade. The journey will begin when they host Oral Roberts in the season opener for both teams Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

Minnesota coach Ben Johnson enters his fourth season with the program. He went 13-17 in his first season and 9-22 in his second before overseeing a 19-15 squad (9-11 in Big Ten play) in 2023-24.

The Golden Gophers, who lost in the second round of the NIT last season, welcome back several key veterans, including Dawson Garcia (who averaged 17.6 points per game), Mike Mitchell Jr. (10.2) and Parker Fox (5.1).

Johnson said he would rely on his older players to lead a team that includes transfers and new recruits, and he is happy with the core's maturity this preseason.

"Yes, so far," Johnson said. "So far, that has been a point of emphasis for those older guys. ... Is there a step in maturity? Is there a step in leadership?

"(We look for) some of those little things because production-wise, I think you have an idea of what you might get. But who are you bringing along with you? Who are you mentoring? ... If we can get everybody clicking sooner than later and get the standard and expectation understood by everybody, that just helps how quickly we can get (things) going and playing well."

The Golden Gophers lost a few key contributors from last season. Cam Christie went to the NBA, Elijah Hawkins transferred to Texas Tech and Pharrel Payne transferred to Texas A&M.

New players include transfers Lu'Cye Patterson (Charlotte), Femi Odukale (New Mexico State), Brennan Rigsby (Oregon), and Frank Mitchell (Canisius).

Meanwhile, Oral Roberts is eager for a fresh start after stumbling to a 12-19 record last season. That followed four consecutive winning seasons, including two trips to the NCAA Tournament with sharpshooter Max Abmas leading the way.

Fifth-year guard Issac McBride is back after averaging 19.8 points a game last season. McBride has been named the Summit League's Preseason Player of the Year.

Oral Roberts coach Russell Springmann said his team has the right approach heading into this season.

"I feel like this group has done a really good job connecting with each other and playing extremely unselfishly," Springmann said.

--Field Level Media