One Ben Johnson comment showed how much stake he put into that Nebraska game at Williams Arena on Wednesday.
“It was the biggest game in my 2 1/2 years here” as head coach, Johnson said after Minnesota’s 76-65 win over the Cornhuskers.
It was a startling remark for so early in the season — but it was the Big Ten opener against a fellow team picked to finish in the bottom of the conference. It was the type of statement a coach is more willing to reveal after a victory — but it didn’t seem to come from a coach feeling the heat from an overall 7-34 Big Ten record.
“I say that because the building blocks and the momentum that hopefully this can carry through the rest of this month is so important to this team,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s underlying goal is to develop a winning culture, even when losses keep piling up. During a preseason practice, he made a comparison to the standard with the Ohio State football program and has done so recently with Duke men’s basketball.
The Gophers (6-3, 1-1 Big Ten) have four more nonconference games before diving into 18 straight Big Ten games once the calendar flips to 2024. The goal is to go 4-0 to close out this month, starting with Florida Gulf Coast (3-7) at 11 a.m. Saturday at The Barn.
Johnson was asked Wednesday what reassurances he has received from Athletics Director Mark Coyle.
“Mark has been awesome,” the coach responded. “He totally gets it, but at the end of the day, I know that we are going to win. What we’ve gone through doesn’t faze me — at all, one bit. I (couldn’t) care less what others say. I don’t see it. I don’t pay attention to it. It has zero effect on me at all. Good or bad. Because, I think, if you are a leader, you can’t.”
Johnson said his focus is “laser-tight” on the day-to-day situations within his program.
“I understand where we are as a program, history-wise, where we are at in our building stages,” he said. “I’m comfortable with that. … I know I have (Coyle’s) confidence 100 percent. But more importantly, I know I have confidence in my staff and our players and our program and what we are doing. I know it’s the right thing. It’s just a matter of time before it really starts showing up.”
Josh Ola-Joseph’s rebounding is example of how Johnson has been trying to set a standard for players. When Ola-Joseph failed to get a rebound in the opening two minutes of the game against Nebraska and the Cornhuskers got a second-chance lay-up, Johnson yanked the sophomore forward out of the game.
“He has to know, you have to get that (rebound),” Johnson said. “It’s not debatable.”
Johnson knew the benching would have an affect on Ola-Joseph.
“The only thing that kid wants to do is play, so when he’s on the bench, it kills him. It’s painful,” Johnson said. “… I sat him and I kept looking at him. I could tell he was getting fired up. He was … probably mad at me.”
In the second half, Ola-Joseph’s five offensive rebounds helped the Gophers outscore Nebraska 52-26 en route to victory. After one play, Braeden Carrington was shouting in Ola-Joseph’s ear.
“I was hyped,” Carrington recalled. “He brought a lot of energy that we needed at that time. Josh, unfortunately, in the first couple games, he kind of shies away from rebounding, but he’s athletic, can be a monster on the glass. He could be averaging five, six rebounds a game. He came in and got these boards; it was big plays that really shifted momentum.”
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