Bright green numbers on a new digital clock tick down inside the Gophers men’s basketball team’s practice facility at Athletes Village.
Head coach Ben Johnson set it up to enhance his team’s focus after losing four of its last five games and show how time to get out of the rut is fleeting before Minnesota (6-5) plays Fairleigh Dickinson (4-9) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Williams Arena.
“That clock is there as a reminder,” Johnson said Thursday. “We are going to talk good. We are going to have energy. Every practice has been great. And that is important, but I’m more concerned about what it looks like (come tipoff). That is the true test. That has been the challenge the last week and a half.”
Coming off losses to Michigan State on Dec. 4 and Indiana on Dec. 9, Johnson pointed to a sequence in the Hoosiers game when one “half-step” when the game was tied 22-22 can lead to another and a quick first-half deficit that grew insurmountable in a 82-67 loss.
“I think we play hard in glimpses, but we don’t play hard long enough,” Johnson said. “We pointed it out over and over that when we do play hard and get to our scheme on offense and defense that good things happen. When we don’t, there is a big gap between our success and failure.”
Through the first third of the season, the Gophers have two nonconference games — including Morgan State on Dec. 29 — before a return to Big Ten play in January.
“Coach has really challenged us and pushed us,” senior forward Parker Fox said. “I think we have done a really good job of accepting that challenge and pushing forward and realizing that this is something that is fixable. We believe we have enough in this locker room to do what we want to do.”
Johnson said the clock will likely remain ticking through the rest of the season.
Update on Cochran
When Toledo transfer guard Tyler Cochran had foot surgery in early October, the initial prognosis was for him to return to the Gophers in December. But time is running out for him to come back this month.
“He’s doing some light (workouts),” Johnson said Thursday. “He hasn’t done anything contact or anything five-on-five. But he’s back working out, doing some individual workouts. He will continue to do rehab.”
The next step for Cochran is getting through team drills possibly after the Christmas break, with a Gophers debut after that.
Local leader
Terrance Brown, an alum of Columbia Heights High School, leads the Knights with 22.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. The sophomore from Minneapolis had 23 points in an 86-60 loss to Nebraska on Nov. 13.
“He’s a very good player, a very good scorer,” Johnson said. “Lot of credit to him. He’s worked on his game and it has shown. He’s got a burst. He’s got good size (at 6-foot-3), good length. … They run good stuff for him. He’s a guy that if you don’t cover him well early and he builds confidence, he can keep them in games. He has proven that. We’ve got to do an outstanding job, not just one guy but as a team.”
FDU earned notoriety two seasons ago for being an exceedingly rare No. 16 seed that knocked off a No. 1 seed, beating Purdue in the 2023 NCAA tournament.
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