The Gophers men’s basketball team’s first exhibition opponent — at least on paper — is better than half of their nonconference foes during the upcoming regular season.
New head coach Niko Medved and Minnesota welcomes North Dakota State to Williams Arena for a 7 p.m. tipoff Thursday.
According to KenPom’s analytics site, the U is 73rd in the country, while the Bison are 215. That’s better than season-opening opponent Gardner-Webb (311), as well as Alcorn State (325), Green Bay (326), Texas Southern (300) and Fairleigh Dickinson (349).
This year, the NCAA allowed for the scheduling of two exhibition games against Division I opponents, and the U will also host North Dakota (314 in KenPom) at The Barn at 2 p.m. Oct. 25.
“I think there is interest in playing these teams,” Medved said. “I think there is regional interest there, so hopefully that is good for both programs. Then again, it will be my first time coaching a game here. It will be everybody except for Isaac (Asuma’s) first time playing a game on this court.”
These two games replace closed scrimmages against DI foes and open-to-public exhibitions against lower-level schools. Last year, the U played Division II Bemidji State and Division III Hamline, and in previous two seasons, DIII Macalester and St. Olaf came to Minneapolis.
“This will be unique as early as it is in the season, playing something like this in front of fans,” Medved said. “Typically when you do these games in a setting this early, you’re really not focused much on scouting, you are just kind of getting your base against their base. Sometimes you look really bad; hopefully sometimes you look really good.”
Medved said he will be tinkering with rotations during the exhibition games.
Once the season starts, the Gophers will have some challenges in its noncnference schedule, with Missouri (28 in KenPom), San Francisco (84) and Stanford (89) among them.
North Dakota State is picked to finish fourth in the Summit League, while UND is slotted eighth in the nine-team conference. St. Thomas is No. 1 in the league and 158th in KenPom.
Medved has said he is open to playing the Tommies in the future, but that won’t be in his first season at the U.
Stephens out
Maryland transfer guard Chance Stephens is “dealing with some unique health stuff” that will keep him off the court for the foreseeable future, Medved said. Stephens, a redshirt junior from Riverside, Calif., missed last season with the Terrapins due to injury and took a medical redshirt. He played in seven games at UMD in 2023-24 after playing 31 games for Loyola Marymount in 2022-23.
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