Gophers defeat Concordia (St. Paul) 80-67 in men's basketball exhibition game

Late in the first half in Monday's Gophers exhibition, Ben Johnson stood on Williams Arena's raised floor so close to the action he could reach out and touch an opposing player in the corner.

The last time Johnson was at the Barn in a game in 2018, he was Richard Pitino's assistant sitting on the bench below. This time he was the head man calling the shots from the court.

"Leading up to the game you have certain thoughts and feelings — it was surreal a little bit," Johnson said. "For me, it was obviously a special day."

The Gophers first-year coach was hired to replace Pitino in March, but the transfer portal took 10 players from last season's team.

Fans allowed back in the Barn for the first time since the 2019-20 season got their first glimpse at Johnson as the U's coach, but his newcomer-laden squad was what an announced crowd of 9,470 was most curious to see in an 80-67 win against Division II Concordia (St. Paul).

Payton Willis and Jamison Battle made a solid 1-2 scoring punch for Johnson in his unofficial coaching debut with a combined 47 points and seven of the team's 11 three-pointers.

"We were treating this like it was a Big Ten game in terms of prep," Johnson said. "You're trying to get the kinks out still. But we showed growth from our scrimmage and practice."

The only familiar faces for Gophers faithful were Willis and fellow senior Eric Curry, who were both on the team two seasons ago. Willis transferred back from the College of Charleston. Curry returned for a sixth year.

Fittingly, Curry hit Willis just inside the foul line for a jumper plus the foul for the game's first basket. The three-point play went down just like Johnson drew it up. Wink. Wink.

"It's crazy it went that way," said Willis, who finished with 23 points, five assists and four rebounds. "Everybody had a little bit of nerves being in front of fans for the first time in 18 months."

Curry, who finished with seven points, seven rebounds and four assists, was the only player who took the court from last year's team. The Gophers were outrebounded 43-41, including 21-15 in the second half. But they forced 20 turnovers, including 14 in the first half.

Battle scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the opening period to lead the Gophers to a 44-28 halftime advantage. The former DeLaSalle and George Washington standout was the only non-senior in the starting lineup Monday night, joining Willis, Curry, Luke Loewe (William & Mary) and E.J. Stephens (Lafayette).

Battle and Willis weren't done coming up with clutch shots to thwart any comeback hopes, but the new-look Gophers know this was only a warmup before the Nov. 9 opener against Missouri Kansas City at home.

"There are a lot of things we can improve on," Battle said. "This is a hungry group of guys, so we're going to go out here in the next few practices and go at it. We want to get better, and we want to win."