Gophers: Ben Johnson says ‘NIL is everything’ ahead of Big Ten opener

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team opens Big Ten play Wednesday night against Michigan State at Williams Arena.

Ben Johnson spoke with reporters Tuesday for more than 20 minutes, and opened a vein on both NIL and revenue sharing in college sports. Soon, revenue sports in the Big Ten will be sharing millions of dollars to pay players. On top of NIL money, players now often go to the highest bidder during the recruiting process. In the past, it’s something Minnesota couldn’t compete with. Johnson said it doesn’t have to stay that way.

"The money piece? It’s everything. It’s the only thing, if you want to be honest about it," Johnson said. One thing we’ve been proud of is we’ve been pretty smart and wise with how we’ve done this. When you talk about return on your investment, I think we’ve been pretty good. You’ve got to take the right guys either way. You can have the biggest budget in the world but if you take the wrong guys, it doesn’t matter. If you take the right guys, you can blow it up, you can crush it. Does money solve a lot of issues? No doubt about it, there’s no secret anymore."

Why it matters

Johnson has seen how NIL and paying players has impacted is program the last two years. He lost two of his best players, Pharrel Payne and Elijah Hawkins, to the transfer portal over NIL money. He kept Dawson Garcia, who turned down other offers to stay with the Gophers.

He says if they have the dollars, they can compete with any program.

"I got my GM hat on every day. It’s pro sports without us having the governing laws of being pro sports," Johnson said. "When has there been a better time for Gopher basketball to be competitive with any program in the country? Year-to-year, you can literally go in the portal and financially have a team that we’ve never had and do that consistently."

Mike Mitchell Jr. injury update

Starting guard Mike Mitchell Jr. is still dealing with a high ankle sprain that’s forced him to miss the last seven games. Johnson did not sound optimistic about his chances to play against the Spartans. After facing Indiana on Dec. 9, the Gophers won’t play again until Dec. 21.

"My biggest thing is when Mike’s back, we want it to be for the long haul," Johnson said.

Without Mitchell, the Gophers have struggled to score consistently.

Tre Holloman’s return

Wednesday marks the return of former Cretin-Derham Hall star Tre Holloman with Michigan State. Now a junior, Holloman has played in every game with the Spartans, making one start. He’s averaging 7.6 points per game and played well for Tom Izzo in the spotlight at the Maui Invitational.

Johnson had just taken the Gophers’ job during Holloman’s recruitment process, and knew it was a longshot to keep him home.

"They called me and said, ‘Look, it’s nothing personal.’ I’m not trumping a relationship they’ve had for three years. He’s kind of a prototypical Izzo point guard," Johnson said. "He embodies what they are, he’s about the right stuff. That kid is all about winning."

The Gophers won’t be afraid of Michigan State, not after a 59-56 win over the Spartans last year in Minneapolis. Garcia and Parker Fox are Minnesota’s healthy players with Big Ten experience. It’ll be something new for the fresh faces on this year’s roster.

"You just gotta be ready to go at all times. It doesn’t get any easier during the season, every single night, every single day is a battle," Garcia said. "You’ve got to treat practice like you would a game so you’re ready for anything."