At the start, Williams Arena was a reflection pool on a cloudy day.
A trickle of basketball fans dressed in maroon-and-gold garb slogged into the echoing Barn, back for a game they were hoping they wouldn't have to see.
Had Minnesota made the NCAA tournament, they would have been watching on TV. As it was, the U announced that 3,493 trudged through the fresh snow for the start of the NIT, the Gophers' consolation prize after failing to make the Big Dance field on Sunday.
At tipoff, top-seeded Minnesota seemed to mimic that sentiment.
But after pushing aside a slow start and a concerning injury to point guard and leader DeAndre Mathieu, the Gophers perked up enough to get the job done and beat High Point 88-81 in the first round.
Mathieu aggravated a right hip bruise from the Wisconsin game in the Big Ten tournament when he was fouled hard by the Panthers' Adam Weary and fell following a layup. He is expected to play Sunday, when the Gophers will face St. Mary's in the second round at Williams Arena.
"These first games are the hardest, especially after coming off a loss, and coming off disappointment from the NCAA tournament," Gophers coach Richard Pitino said. "But I think we had the right mentality [Tuesday]. We came out, took care of business."
The Gophers struggled to break away from an inferior opponent — just as they have all season — and will have to continue onward with their hottest player hobbled.