The new-look Gophers played Omaha on Thursday night, and the Mavericks didn't stick around long. Minnesota beat the Mavericks 72-52 in an exhibition that tipped at 7 p.m., streamed on B1G+, and let UMN students in free.
Malick Kordel, the 7-foot-2 transfer from Michigan, scored 13 points off the bench. He made all 5 of his shots from the field and added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a block in 19 minutes. Senior forward Bobby Durkin scored 11 points, went 3-of-5 from 3-point range, and finished with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block. Senior forward Jaylen Crocker-Johnson added 10 points and 5 rebounds, though he shot just 3-of-10 and 1-of-6 from deep.
The game turned late in the first half. Minnesota closed the half on a 16-2 run over the final 8 minutes and went to the break up 36-16. The lead grew to as many as 31 points, and the Gophers made 12 3-pointers on the night.
Kyan Evans, the guard who transferred from North Carolina, ran the offense. He scored only 8 points on 3-of-7 shooting but had 7 assists and 4 steals, and one of those assists was a lob on the break that Kai Shinholster threw down. Medved also used a deep bench. Eight Gophers had played double-digit minutes before the game was over, which is a big change from the short rotation he had last season.
Blake Nixon Jr. scored his first college basket. Nixon is a 6-foot-3 freshman guard who played at Academy of Holy Angels. As a senior there he averaged 16.9 points per game before a knee injury ended his season after 12 games.
Cade Tyson, last season's leading scorer, sat out. He is enrolled and practicing with the team but is still ineligible while he challenges the NCAA's five-in-five eligibility rule. An injunction that would have let players in his situation play a fifth season was stayed by the 10th Circuit. A 3-judge panel from that court heard arguments Tuesday and had not ruled by the time the Gophers played Omaha.
Medved was blunt about it. "It's chaos," he said. He said Tyson is a great guy who "couldn't be handling the situation any better." He went further: "Basically (the) fate in your season or maybe going to the NCAA tournament depends on having a friendly judge? It's embarrassing." He also said Tyson "had a really hard time (Thursday) having to sit and watch this and not be able to play," and argued that "the best decision they could make in a bad circumstance right now is to let these guys play."
An exhibition only tells you so much, but Kordel scoring easily inside and Evans setting up teammates are both encouraging signs. Minnesota plays Creighton on October 23 and opens the regular season against North Dakota on November 2. By then the Gophers will hopefully know whether Tyson can play.
