Gophers guard Tyler Cochran out until December after foot surgery
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team opens the 2024-25 season in less than two weeks with an exhibition against Bemidji State.
Ben Johnson said Tuesday before the Gophers practiced that Toledo transfer Tyler Cochran will be out until early December after having foot surgery last week. Minnesota opens Big Ten play against Michigan State on Dec. 4.
Cochran was one of the last players to join the Gophers’ roster in the offseason. He was Second Team All-MAC and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged 14.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game.
"His understanding of the game is really high. Brings a lot of winning intangibles. Probably better now than later when he’s really getting into the meat of the Big Ten season. A minor setback for him, we’ll be anxious to get him back," Johnson said.
What it means
It means other guards on the roster will have to step up, starting with returner Mike Mitchell Jr. Other guards that should see time include Minneapolis native Lu’Cye Patterson, Oregon transfer Brennan Rigsby, Femi Odukale, Macalester transfer Caleb Williams and freshman Isaac Asuma.
Winner’s week
The Gophers held eight weeks of summer workouts, took a break and returned for the start of school with what Johnson calls "Winner’s Week." It’s early mornings of conditioning, skill work, team building and time in the weight room.
Johnson wants his team to think like winners. Minnesota won 19 games last year, won nine league games and won a road game at Butler in the NIT. They have nine new faces who have yet to go through a Big Ten season.
"With new guys, it was just understanding the urgency at this level that you have to have every day. When you do make the jump from whatever level up, you have to have a different mentality," Johnson said. "It’s going to be harder than you think, I’d rather have them hit that mental block now than in December or January."
Starting with exhibitions
The Gophers typically have a secret scrimmage against another Division I team, then have an exhibition before the season starts for real. This year, they’ll have two exhibition games. They host Bemidji State on Oct. 19, and Hamline on Oct. 29.
Johnson wants all of his new players to play in front of a live crowd before the regular season opener against Oral Roberts on Nov. 6. Johnson cautioned to not take a lot of stock out of either exhibition game.
"I’m definitely going self-mode on this one, because I’ve got to figure some stuff out. Lineups are going to be funky, minutes are going to be funky, what we run is going to be pretty basic and vanilla," Johnson said. "I want to get guys used to playing here, I don’t want the first time to play here to be in a real game so that that stuff is out of the way."