Cade Tyson scored 28 points and the Gophers men’s basketball team beat North Dakota State 80-54 in an exhibition game at Williams Arena on Thursday night.
It was the Gophers’ first exhibition under new coach Niko Medved, the former Gophers assistant from Roseville who returned to lead the program after leading Colorado State to the NCAA tournament three times in the past four seasons.
Tyson shot 9-for-13 from the floor, including 6-for-9 on three-pointers, and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson added 11 points and Isaac Asuma had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. Robert Vaihola had eight points and 14 rebounds.
The Gophers featured a starting lineup of Asuma and Chansey Willis Jr. at guard and Tyson, Vaihola and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson at forward. Besides Asuma, the starters are all transfers from Division I programs, as the Gophers have nine transfers on the roster in all.
The 6-foot-7 Tyson played in 31 games at North Carolina last season, averaging 2.6 points per game for the Tar Heels, after starting his college career at Belmont, where he averaged 15.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in 61 games.
Trevian Carson led the Bison with 14 points.
The Gophers have one more exhibition game, against North Dakota at home on Oct. 25. The season officially gets underway Nov. 3 against Gardner-Webb at Williams Arena.
