Gophers practice in new facility for first time; Lynch will practice, Pitino says

There might not be a perfect word to describe everything that is happening with the Gophers men's basketball program right now, but star forward Jordan Murphy came up with a pretty good one at Tuesday's media access in advance of Wednesday's game at Northwestern.

"This week's been very eventful, obviously, with the injury and suspension and stuff," Murphy said.

The injury refers to starter Amir Coffey, whose right shoulder problem kept him out of Saturday's loss to Indiana and has him out indefinitely. He will not play against Northwestern, head coach Richard Pitino said Tuesday.

Same goes for big man Reggie Lynch, who was suspended Friday after an investigation found that he violated the school's sexual misconduct policy. Lynch is eligible to practice with the team during his suspension, which he is appealing.

When asked Tuesday if Lynch has practiced since last week's ruling, Pitino said, "He didn't do much (Monday) just because I'm more focused on the guys who are playing more than anything. But he was there. It was more of a short (practice) because we're so banged up right now, but he is there if need be with certain things."

Pitino did say that Lynch will practice with the team going forward.

Against that backdrop, Tuesday marked the Gophers' first practice inside their new facility at the Bob Eddy Court of the Cunningham Basketball Performance Center, located in the new Athletes Village complex.

Even that good news for the long-term future of the program, though, is juxtaposed against questions about the short-term future.

Media access was held just inside the doors of the new facility, with a screen-print style mural covering the inside wall. On it was a picture of four players: the injured Eric Curry and Coffey, as well as healthy starters Nate Mason and Murphy.

The two injured players in the mural, along with the lingering Lynch suspension, serve as a reminder of how a season that began with promise has continued to take negative turns.

"We're just trying to keep our heads up and not feel sorry for ourselves," Murphy said, adding that the team had a meeting Monday in which the goal was to not "lose sight of what we're really here to do."

Davonte Fitzgerald, whose role and minutes as a "stretch four" style of power forward figure to increase significantly with Lynch out and Murphy being used more at center, said Pitino "got on us" at that Monday meeting but that the ensuing dialogue was good.

With the Gophers sitting at 13-4, 2-2 in the Big Ten while missing so many key players, a season that started with Minnesota being mentioned as a dark horse Final Four candidate feels a lot different now.