Jerrod Calhoun enters Monday with a milestone in reach, but the bigger test is waiting for Cincinnati.
The first-year Bearcats coach can pick up his 300th career victory when Cincinnati hosts Minnesota, with both teams arriving at 2-0. Calhoun has liked plenty of what he has seen so far, but he also knows the level of competition is about to climb.
Cincinnati is coming off an 81-64 win over Green Bay on Thursday, a game that showed both the Bearcats’ depth and the areas still needing work. Myles Colvin powered the effort with 31 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, while Amani Lyles added 14 points. MJ Collins Jr. and Eric Mahaffey chipped in 11 apiece.
Calhoun pointed to the bigger picture after the win.
"Sometimes it is the process over the outcome," Calhoun said. "We missed 10 threes in the first half at one point, and I thought most of them were really good looks.
You have to have the ability as a college basketball player to adjust. We have to do a better job of getting them to understand that.
If you can't make 3s, then get to the rim. This group is still learning.
We are making progress."
The Bearcats also turned defense into offense, scoring 23 points off 21 turnovers.
" A lot of guys stepped up in this game," Calhoun said. "It is early season, so we just need to keep getting better."
His coaching résumé already includes wins at Fairmont State (124), Youngstown State (118), Utah State (55) and Cincinnati (two).
Minnesota brings its own momentum after a 76-62 win over St. Thomas in a cross-town matchup played before a mixed crowd.
The Golden Gophers led by 18 at halftime, then had to weather a push when St. Thomas trimmed the margin to seven twice in the second half.
For Isaac Asuma, that stretch mattered.
"It was good facing adversity in the second half," Minnesota star Isaac Asuma said. "We weren't playing well and there were a lot of people in the crowd who weren't rooting for us. It was good for us to play through it because now we go to Cincinnati."
Asuma finished with a career-high 20 points, with 14 of them coming in the first half. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson added 16 points and 10 rebounds, including 11 points after halftime.
Minnesota has also been sharing the ball and controlling the glass. The Gophers are averaging 23.5 assists per game and have a 46.5-33.5 rebounding edge over opponents.
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Greg Harbaughs unit has become the latest focal point, but the issue runs deeper than one play caller or one bad Saturday. Minnesota has spent too much of the Fleck era fighting the same offensive limitations, and while coaching changes can reset a conversation, they do not automatically fix the underlying trend. That is why the comparison to Purdue matters less as a mirror and more as a warning: one firing may satisfy the moment, but it does not solve a programs bigger problem. [Read more 🡒]
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The Gophers have looked promising enough to inspire some optimism, especially with their depth and the expectation that one of their guards will deliver a strong night. Still, the margin for error figures to be slim, and Minnesotas best path runs through cleaner possession management and a better answer for Cincinnatis work on the glass. If the Gophers can handle those parts of the game, they should give themselves a real chance to make an early statement. [Read more 🡒]
P.J. Flecks Latest UCLA Decision Sums Up A Bigger Gophers Problem
A late-game decision in the UCLA loss offered a clean snapshot of how Minnesota has been playing under P.J. Fleck. With the Gophers trailing and time slipping away, Fleck leaned conservative again, choosing field position over a more aggressive swing at the game, a move that fit the broader pattern of a staff that often seems more comfortable avoiding mistakes than forcing them.
Fleck later defended the approach, pointing to earlier long field-goal tries that came up empty, but the bigger issue is what this says about the offense as a whole. Minnesota has too often looked constrained in the moments when it needs urgency, and until that changes, the Gophers are going to keep living with the same frustrating question: whether their head coach trusts his team enough to let it play on the front foot. [Read more 🡒]