What to Expect: IU basketball travels to Minnesota

Minnesota wing Cade Tyson handles the ball.

IU basketball hits the road to begin Big Ten play tonight against Minnesota at Williams Arena. The Gophers are 4-4 and have lost three straight.

Tonight’s game tips at 7 p.m. ET on BTN:

IU basketball has cruised through the first seven games of the 2025-26 season but the schedule toughens up beginning tonight.

The Hoosiers play their first road game of the Darian DeVries era tonight in Minneapolis. It’s just the second contest away from Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall this season for IU, which has won six of its first seven games by at least 17 points.

Indiana’s first Big Ten opponent, Minnesota, also has a first-year coach in Niko Medved. The Gophers are 4-0 at home and 0-4 away from the Barn under Medved this season.

MEET THE GOPHERS

Injuries have depleted Medved’s roster in his first season in the Big Ten. The Gophers have been without forward BJ Omot, a potential starter, for the first seven games, and two starters, Robert Vaihola and Chansey Willis, have recently gone down with injuries.

Willis, a 6-foot-2 transfer point guard from Western Michigan, went down with a foot injury in Minnesota’s loss to Stanford on Nov. 27. He will miss the remainder of the season with a broken foot. Vaihola, a 6-foot-8 transfer forward from San Jose State, hurt his knee in a 66-54 win against Chicago State on Nov. 18 and will not be available tonight. There is no timetable for Omot’s return.

In its most recent game – an 86-75 loss to Santa Clara – Minnesota played just seven players, including two freshmen.

The thin Gopher rotation is led by Cade Tyson, a former standout at Belmont who struggled last season at North Carolina. The 6-foot-7 wing has rejuvenated his career at Minnesota through eight games. Tyson’s 22.4 points per game lead the Gophers. He’s shooting a solid 53.2 percent from the field, including a 35.9 percent mark on 3-pointers, to go along with 4.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 34.8 minutes per game. But he’s more than just a shooter. Tyson is attempting 10 free throws per game and is converting at an 81.3 percent clip from the line.

The Minnesota frontcourt is led by Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, who followed Medved from Colorado State. At 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds, Crocker-Johnson is a force on the glass. He’s already pulled down 22 offensive rebounds this season and his 9.1 rebounds per game lead the team. He’s second on the team in scoring at 12.4 points per game, but has struggled with his efficiency early this season. Crocker-Johnson shot 58.8 percent on 2s last season but is just 24-for-54 on 3s (44.4 percent) this season.

Sophomore guard Isaac Asuma, a holdover from the Ben Johnson era, has taken a step forward in his second season. Asuma leads Minnesota with 4.4 assists per game. His 9.3 points per game are fourth on the team and he’s made 12 3-pointers, tied for second on the roster behind Tyson.

Senior guard Langston Reynolds, a transfer from Northern Colorado, joined the starting lineup after the injury to Willis. Reynolds has scored in double figures four times, but isn’t a 3-point threat. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound guard is shooting 62.7 percent on 2s and has a free-throw rate (FTA/FGA) of 53.6 percent. Converting at the line, however, has been an issue. Through eight games, Reynolds is just 11-for-30 from the stripe.

Rounding out the starting lineup is redshirt freshman big man Grayson Grove, another holdover from the Johnson era. The 6-foot-9 forward is averaging 2.4 points and 2.4 rebounds in 13.4 minutes per game while shooting 72.7 percent from the field.

The names to know off the bench are Davidson transfer Bobby Durkin and freshman guard Kai Shinholster.

The 6-foot-7 Durkin, a teammate of Reed Bailey’s the last two seasons, made 88 3-pointers last season for the Wildcats but is just 12-for-40 on triples this season. Durkin is averaging 6.1 points in 20.1 minutes per game.

Shinholster signed with Minnesota in the fall of 2024 and kept his commitment following the coaching change. A 3-star guard from Philadelphia, the 6-foot-5 guard is averaging 3.3 points in 11.7 minutes per game. Shinholster is 3-for-8 on 3-pointers.

TEMPO-FREE PREVIEW

(All stats through Tuesday’s games.)

Through eight games, Minnesota has been strong on the offensive glass and elite at getting to the free-throw line.

The Gophers have attempted 225 free throws compared to 144 by their opponents, a margin of more than 10 attempts per game. Minnesota is grabbing 36.6 percent of its missed shots, ranking in the top 55 nationally through Monday’s games. The Gophers are also a solid 2-point shooting team at 55.5 percent inside the 3-point line.

The Gophers’ struggles have come from beyond the 3-point line – just 31 percent – and from the free throw line, where they are shooting just 66.7 percent. Despite the high differential in free-throw attempts, Minnesota is outscoring its opponents by just 6.8 points per game from the line.

Defensively, Minnesota has limited opponents to just 45.9 percent shooting on 2s. The Gophers are also allowing their opponents to rebound 26.3 percent of their misses, which ranks inside the top 55 nationally.

From a pace perspective, the Gophers prefer to play slow, ranking just 355th in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom.com.

WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO

While the Hoosiers are a solid favorite on paper, life on the road in the Big Ten is difficult. Despite their early-season struggles, Minnesota is 4-0 at home and will look to rebound after three straight losses to San Francisco, Stanford and Santa Clara.

The KenPom projection is Indiana by nine with a 78 percent chance of a Hoosier victory and Bart Torvik has IU by six with a 73 percent chance of a win.

Three opponents have already made 11 or more 3-pointers against Minnesota in a game this season and the Hoosiers will need to make 3s to claim their first road win of the season.

This is an important game for Indiana to win to get off to a solid start in league play, given a Big Ten schedule that becomes incredibly difficult in mid-January and beyond.

(Photo credit: Minnesota Athletics)

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