The Gophers head into this basketball season with a completely different-looking team, from a new head coach to a whole new roster. Over the offseason, Minnesota and former head coach Richard Pitino parted ways after eight seasons. The domino effect following the firing began and players transfered left and right, including a new face at the helm for the Gophers.
Head coach Ben Johnson accepted the head coaching position and got straight to work fixing together his new team and coaching staff. It was a busy offseason for the Gophers and the team will no doubt take some time kicking things into gear, but luckily their non-conference schedule will allow them just that.
The Gophers’ season is still over a month away as they are slated to get things underway Nov. 1 in a home game against Concordia-St. Paul at Williams Arena.
The Gophers should have a relatively easy first six contests facing Kansas City, Purdue Fort Wayne and Jacksonville paired with the Asheville Championship where they’ll face Western Kentucky and either South Carolina or Princeton.
That will allow Johnson and company some early action together before Minnesota faces Pittsburgh in the yearly ACC-Big Ten challenge. After a game against Mississippi State on Dec. 5, the Gophers will see their first Big Ten opponent of the season.
Last season, Minnesota had an extremely tough beginning to its conference schedule. Before the team fell apart, the Gophers were off to an impressive 4-4 conference schedule with big wins over Michigan, Iowa and Ohio State, all of which finished in the top five of the Big Ten last season.
This season will be a little easier of a start, but with the team’s new look, it will give the Gophers some early tests against one of the best conferences in the nation. Minnesota will have just two conference games before the new year begins, facing both Michigan State and Michigan to open up conference play.
The Gophers will finish off the calendar year with their last three non-conference games. After that, there will be 18 straight Big Ten matchups to finish off the season. The toughest stretch for Minnesota will likely come at the end of January and beginning of February.
Minnesota will have two home games and two away games in that stretch, but it comes against some tough opponents. The Gophers will start with a home game against a talented Ohio State team before going on the road to face Wisconsin. In the beginning of February, they’ll host Purdue to open the month and be right back on the road against the Hawkeyes.
The regular season comes to a close with back-to-back away games against Maryland and Northwestern, concluding March 6, 2022.
There really is no easy game in a conference like the Big Ten, and Minnesota will have enough challenges to face already. It isn’t hard to imagine some early struggles from this Gophers team with all the changes made over the offseason.
