Gophers welcome undefeated No. 7 Nebraska to Barn for ‘brunch basketball’

On Jan. 6, the Gophers men’s basketball team survived a trio of Iowa three-point attempts in the final 11 seconds to knock off the No. 19 Hawkeyes 70-67 at Williams Arena. It set off the second celebratory court-storming of the season to go with a 73-64 upset of No. 22 Indiana on Dec. 3.

Coach Niko Medved’s team has played four games since the win over Iowa, falling to USC 70-69 in overtime, losing 78-75 to Wisconsin on a buzzer-beating three-pointer, dropping a 77-67 decision at No. 13 Illinois and falling 82-74 in overtime at Ohio State. Opportunity knocked, and the Gophers couldn’t fully answer.

“When things get harder to face, you can give in, but we’re not going to give in,” Medved said. “You’re not going to make excuses. You’ve just got to keep going. The positives are giving ourselves an opportunity in every one of these games. It stinks, and I hurt for all of us. But the great thing about this league is we’ve got another great opportunity coming up.”

That great opportunity comes at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, when No. 7 Nebraska (19-0, 8-0 Big Ten) visits the Gophers (10-9, 3-5) at Williams Arena. A victory over the Cornhuskers would be the biggest one to date under Medved, the first-year Minnesota coach who’s quickly made the Gophers competitive in the conference.

“You have to keep believing that you can make another play, that you can get over the hump,” Medved said. “You have to take stock and realize, ‘Hey, we are improving.’ The work that we’ve done is giving ourselves an opportunity to be in these games. So, I always say the term, ‘Be easy to please but hard to satisfy.’ Hunt the good things.”

Hunting the Huskers won’t come easy. Under coach Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska has a plus-13.5 point differential in Big Ten play, leads the conference in three-point shooting at 39.3% and is second in the conference in assist/turnover ratio at 2.24. Four players average in double figures in Big Ten play, led by junior forward Pryce Sandfort. The transfer from Iowa is scoring 19.4 points per game in league play and shooting 48.5% from three-point range.

Hoiberg leaned heavily into the transfer portal with 10 transfers on his roster, including former Bradley forward Rienk Mask (13.0 ppg in Big Ten play), ex-Rhode Island guard Jamarques Lawrence (11.6 ppg), plus reserve guard Kendall Blue, a former University of St. Thomas standout from Woodbury.

Added Medved, “They’re so unselfish. They play on both ends like they’re as one. … They’re playing with so much confidence, and they’ve got really good players."

Crocker-Johnson figures to be a key player for the Gophers in their quest to upset Nebraska. The junior from San Antonio followed Medved from Colorado State to Minnesota and averages 14.2 points per game. He’s heated up lately, scoring 26 points against Ohio State, 22 against Illinois and 20 against Wisconsin. He shot 26-for-50 (52%) from the field in those three games, including a 5-for-12 three-point effort at Illinois.

“He played that spot for us at Colorado State, but not as much as he’s playing here,” Medved said. “He’s realizing confidence in himself that, ‘Hey, even in the Big Ten, I can still do the things that I was able to do that allowed me to be successful in the Mountain West.’”

Medved will take that positive energy into the 11 a.m. game Jan. 24 against Nebraska, eager for another shot at a ranked team.

“Brunch basketball on Saturday,” he said. “Man, what could be better?”