Gophers men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson was handed the best type of lesson: a chance to learn from others’ mistakes.

While Minnesota was taking care of Bethune-Cookman in an 80-60 season-opening victory on Monday, No. 4 Michigan State lost in overtime to James Madison and Rutgers fell 68-61 to Princeton.

“I love to point that out to our team,” Johnson said Wednesday. “I talk about it all the time. But it’s better when I can reference things that happen within our league. I think Michigan State is a perfect scenario that anybody now can beat anybody, especially early in the year when teams are still figuring out their identity.”

These types of results should put the Gophers (1-0) on alert as Texas-San Antonio (1-0) comes to Williams Arena for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff Friday.

Another good example for Johnson came Tuesday when Indiana trailed Florida Gulf Coast in the second half before pulling out a 69-63 victory.

“That is why I scheduled them,” Johnson said of Florida Gulf Coast coming to The Barn on Dec. 9. “I knew they were going to be good. Pat Chambers is a Big Ten former head coach (at Penn State). He understands it. They have tough talent, and they pushed Indiana all the way to the limit.”

The UTSA Roadrunners have good size in the post — 7-footer Carlton Linguard Jr and 6-10 Trey Edmonds — which should push the U’s best players in 6-11 Dawson Garcia and 6-9 Pharrel Payne. UTSA needed overtime to beat Western Illinois 78-68 on Monday.

“Mentally, we’ve got to make sure we don’t look past anybody,” Johnson said.

The U’s biggest nonconference challenge comes next: Missouri on Thursday night at The Barn.

The Gophers might be full strength come Friday night’s game. Freshman guard Cam Christie has returned to practice after dealing with an illness that kept him out of the Nov. 2 exhibition win over Macalester and Monday’s season opener.

“We will ramp him up this week and look to get him in some on Friday, if everything progresses the right way,” Johnson said. “He will be on some early-minute restrictions until he gets a couple more practices under his belt.”

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