MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team will open its 2020-21 season next Wednesday gainst UW-Green Bay at Williams Arena.
The Gophers officially released their schedule Wednesday, after having to pause workouts for five days last week due to COVID-19 cases within the team. Minnesota will play five non-conference games, and the opponents after Green Bay include North Dakota, Boston College in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, Kansas City and St. Louis.
The Gophers will open the Big Ten season at Illinois on Dec. 15. Minnesota’s first Big Ten Home game will be on Christmas Day against Iowa. The season will include 25 games, and if the Gophers make the NCAA Tournament, it’ll be held in one location in the Indianapolis area due to COVID-19 concerns. The Big Ten Tournament is scheduled for March 10-14 at the United Center in Chicago.
The Gophers will play Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue and Rutgers twice. Their home-only games include Michigan State, Northwestern and Ohio State. Their road-only games are Indiana, Penn State and Wisconsin.
The Gophers' captains for the year are senior Eric Curry, and juniors Marcus Carr and Gabe Kalscheur. Carr is Minnesota's top returning scorer, and set the single season record for assists last year. Curry has been medically cleared to play next week after suffering a season-ending knee injury last year.
There will be limited or no fans at Williams Arena this season, outside of family of players who might have clearance to attend games.
Minnesota finished 15-16 last year, including 8-12 in the Big Ten as Richard Pitino enters his eighth season.