SAN FRANCISCO — After each basket Mike Mitchell Jr. scored Sunday, big cheers resonated from one section at the Golden State Warriors' Chase Center.
Nobody shouted louder than his three younger siblings wearing their versions of his No. 2 Gophers jersey.
Despite the loss to San Francisco, Bay Area natives Mitchell and his Gophers teammate Jack Wilson were grateful to return home to see family and be on the same floor as the former NBA champion Warriors.
"It's like a dream come true," Mitchell said. "I went to a lot of Warriors games growing up. It's surreal, everybody seeing me back home in a Minnesota jersey."
While their teammates got a kick out of visiting the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman's Wharf during the trip, the two Northern Californians reminisced about glory days at high schools nearby.
Mitchell and Wilson had both been standout players in the West Catholic Athletic League. Even though they were three years apart, their paths crossed briefly at perennial powers Archbishop Mitty and Junipero Serra, respectively.
"I actually tell Jack all the time that we beat [Serra] my junior year to clinch the league title, but he was gone," Mitchell said. "Jack was a big deal. I used to go to his games when I was in seventh and eighth grade."
Their separate journeys eventually landed them in the Big Ten playing for third-year coach Ben Johnson, learning new roles for the Gophers (4-2) entering Thursday's game against New Orleans.