The Gophers men’s basketball team overwhelmed Morgan State 90-68 on Sunday, but it was the final bullet point on how underwhelming Minnesota’s nonconference schedule has been this season.

The Gophers (8-5) have a “strength of resume” ranked 156th in the nation, according to ESPN on Sunday. And Minnesota’s spot in the overall NET ranking (155) won’t improve come Monday, not with a win over a Morgan State team ranked nearly 200 spots lower at 353.

Minnesota was a 22-point favorite and received a huge 22-point first half from Mike Mitchell to win easily in its final tune-up before Big Ten play resumes Thursday at home versus Purdue.

Gophers head coach Ben Johnson in August expressed the difficulty to balance the competitiveness of the nonconference slate with who’s available to book and what’s best for this year’s team.

“Sometimes the hardest thing for fans to grasp fully is so much of it is a numbers game,” Johnson said at the Minnesota State Fair. “It’s a give and take. You don’t know your team fully and you don’t know the other teams. Sometimes you can roll the dice and go with a team that, quote, might not have the name, but you know will be really good in their league, where if you play a Power Five team and they aren’t good in their league, the game means nothing. It’s great to have a name, but if they finish bottom four, the numbers go down.”

Minnesota joined a multi-team, neutral-site event in Orlando around Thanksgiving but lost both games, to Wichita State and Wake Forest. They also fell to North Texas at The Barn earlier in November. Those three teams each have NET rankings in the Top 80.

While Morgan State (6-10) won’t help the U’s resume, the win should aid confidence before facing a Boilermaker team picked in preseason to win the Big Ten come March.

Morgan State, which lost by 61 points to Xavier and by 27 to No. 3 Iowa State, played Sunday without leading scorers Winston Tabbs (16.1 points per game) and Amahrie Simpkins (12.7).

Minnesota staked a 55-37 lead at the half on the back of Mitchell’s perfection. He made all eight jump shots, including six 3-pointers, for 22 points; that total bested his previous U high of 20 points against Ball State last season. Mitchell missed both of his two shots in the second half and sat during garbage time, falling one point short of his career high with Pepperdine in 2022.

The Gophers’ poorer start to this season came with Mitchell sidelined for seven games with a high ankle sprain — including all three defeats — and his return is vital as the U looks to dig out of an early 0-2 hole in conference play next week.

Dawson Garcia added 18 points and eight rebounds, while Parker Fox chipped in 11 points for the Gophers. Minnesota used 11 players.

Frank Mitchell returned Sunday after missing the win over Farleigh Dickinson on Dec. 21 while in concussion protocol. He scored eight points in 11 minutes.

Related Articles

After ugly first half, Gophers pull away for a 74-60 win over Fairleigh Dickinson

Gophers football continues to restock offensive lineman for 2025

Clock is ticking for Gophers men’s basketball to get season turned around

Would another long, cold winter of Gophers men’s basketball bring change?

Men’s basketball: Gophers can’t hang with Indiana in a 82-67 loss Monday