\u201cIf one of these guys makes a connection with a new young Gopher fan, that can last for the rest of your life,\u201d Medved told reporters. \u201cThat happened to us in Colorado (State). It might be an organic connection that happens right here with a family and a young kid who gets to meet a player and come watch them. (They might say:) \u201cMom and dad, I want to keep going to the Gopher games.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 1,000 fans turned out to The Barn for the first such scrimmage since 2018, back when Richard Pitino was head coach.<\/p>\n
Here are five takeaways:<\/p>\n
Initial scorers<\/p>\n
Guard Chansey Willis, a transfer from Western Michigan, and forward Cade Tyson, a transfer from North Carolina, showed some scoring touch in the two eight-minute \u201cgames.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willis, who is listed at 6 feet 2, was able to finish at the rim and from 3-point range. One of the biggest highlights was his steal, a reverse lay-up in transition, plus a foul.<\/p>\n
\u201cChansey can get in the lane, Isaac (Asuma) can get in the lane,\u201d Medved said. \u201cWe do have some guys with some quickness who can create, and we\u2019ve seen that from (Chansey) every day. He is going to be a player, I think, Gopher fans will like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyson had a finish amid traffic in the paint and a trey with Jaylen Crocker-Johnson\u2019s hand in his face.<\/p>\n
Tyson also got a chunk of his points at the free-throw line, which was an area where the Gophers struggled mightily during the Ben Johnson era.<\/p>\n
Winning buckets<\/p>\n
Center Robert Vaihola, a transfer from San Jose State, and forward Bobby Durkin, a transfer from Davidson, each made scrimmage-sealing buckets at the end of the two sessions.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-8 Vaihola got an offensive rebound and finished through contact from Tyson. Vaihola averaged 7.5 rebounds per game last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebounding always translates,\u201d Medved said. \u201cHaving played against him in the Mountain West, he was one of the best offensive rebounders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Durkin hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key in the second segment. The 6-7 product out of the Chicago area averaged 35.5% from deep last season in the Atlantic 10 Conference.<\/p>\n
High standard<\/p>\n
Multiple Gophers players at the U\u2019s media day Friday talked about Medved\u2019s attention to detail on the practice court. That was apparent in a few areas on the offensive end Saturday, primarily in firm screens, crisp cuts and near-constant ball movement.<\/p>\n
Annual thing<\/p>\n
Medved started holding preseason scrimmages tied to homecoming football games when he was the head coach at Furman from 2013-17 and continued it through his seven-year tenure at Colorado State that ended last season.<\/p>\n
Medved likes a game-like scene when the lights are on, pregame music is playing and fans are watching.<\/p>\n
This sort of thing might be looked at as helpful after both the maroon and gold sides didn\u2019t score for the opening three minutes.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
The Gophers will take the next step with their first exhibition game against North Dakota State coming to the Barn for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thursday. North Dakota will visit Oct. 25 for the second and final exhibition.<\/p>\n
No students were spotted at The Barn on Saturday. \u201cThey are too busy having fun down the road,\u201d Medved said with a laugh, referencing homecoming parties on fraternity row along University Avenue.<\/p>\n
Students will be able to get in free for the exhibition games. The season opener is Nov. 3, when Gardner-Webb comes to the Barn.<\/p>\n
![\"Gophers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/STP-L-jea-05-GOPHERS_BB_PRACTICE-0731.jpg\")
Gophers men\u2019s basketball coach Niko Medved talks to media members during the last day of summer practice for the team at the Cunningham Basketball Performance Center at the University\u2019s Athletes Village in Minneapolis on Thursday, July 31, 2025. (John Autey \/ Pioneer Press)<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 11, 2025 at 4:39 PM CDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Gophers men\u2019s basketball team renewed the maroon and gold scrimmage on Saturday at Williams Arena. For new…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":296236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1369,151272,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-296235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-sports","10":"tag-gophers-mens-basketball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-basketball","13":"tag-ncaabasketball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115358973743551609","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}