Minnesota’s first men’s basketball meeting with St. Thomas in nearly a century started with a burst, turned choppy for a stretch, and finished with the Gophers in control anyway.
The Gophers beat the Tommies 76-62 on Friday at The Barn, shaking off a second-half push from the St. Paul school after building a comfortable cushion early.
Minnesota was favored by 14 points and eventually covered that number, but St. Thomas made the home crowd sweat a little when it trimmed the margin to 64-57 with under six minutes left.
Minnesota improved to 2-0, while St. Thomas fell to 1-1.
The game was lopsided in the opening half, when the Gophers ripped off a 23-4 run to seize command. Isaac Asuma was the spark. He scored 14 points in the first half, hitting 4 of 6 from 3-point range, and Minnesota went into the locker room up 40-22.
Grayson Groves also gave the Gophers a lift inside after Jaylen Crocker-Johnson got into early foul trouble. Groves finished the first half with eight points and seven rebounds, helping Minnesota keep the Tommies from finding much rhythm.
St. Thomas never really got its perimeter game going early, either. The Tommies connected on just two of 19 shots from deep in the first 20 minutes, and no player had more than five points at the break.
The second half had a different feel. St.
Thomas, which has seven native Minnesotans on its roster, used a few runs to hang around and briefly make things interesting. Carter Bjerke, a Wayzata alum, drilled a 3-pointer and then shouted toward the U bench as the Tommies pulled within 64-56.
But Minnesota answered the pressure and kept the game from slipping further. The Gophers never let the lead fully disappear, closing out a matchup that had been a long time coming.
Though the schools are separated by only four miles, Minnesota had declined to play St. Thomas since the Tommies moved to Division I in 2021-22.
Gophers coach Niko Medved explored the idea last year, and while that didn’t lead anywhere, he and St. Thomas coach Johnny Tauer eventually agreed to a one-off contract for this season’s nonconference game.
Medved has said the matchup is good for Twin Cities basketball, but not enough to help a Minnesota team trying to strengthen its case for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
The game also carried a strange kind of historical weight. Minnesota and St.
Thomas had met only seven times before Friday, and not since 1934. In that stretch, the Gophers went 6-1, with St.
Thomas’ lone win coming in 1933 by a 25-24 score.
In Other News...
Gophers Let St. Thomas Make This Rivalry Opener Uncomfortable
The first regular-season meeting between Minnesota and St. Thomas in nearly a century had the feel of a rivalry game from the start, even if the programs are still writing the first real chapters of this one. Hosting the Tommies, the Gophers had to navigate a game that was tighter than the matchup on paper suggested, with Isaac Asuma providing the biggest scoring punch and Minnesota leaning on efficient work at the line to stay in control.
St. Thomas made things uncomfortable with a second-half push, turning what looked like a straightforward home win into something the Gophers had to manage possession by possession. Minnesota ultimately finished off a 76-62 victory, but the Tommies showed enough resistance to make this opener feel more like a rivalry than a novelty, and it offered a reminder that the next time these two meet, the early edge will not come easily. [Read more 🡒]
Gophers Face One Brutal Test If They Want To Shock UCLA
Minnesota gets an early spotlight Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium, where the Gophers will try to rebound from an overtime loss to Indiana against an undefeated UCLA team that has looked every bit like a contender. The matchup comes at 11 a.m. on FOX, with KFXN-100.3 FM carrying the radio call, and it sets up as a stiff challenge for a Minnesota group sitting at 5-3 and still searching for steadier offensive footing.
The problem is the Bruins bring the kind of defense that can make every possession feel like a test, especially for a Gophers offense that has had trouble finding rhythm against top competition. Minnesota is also dealing with some injury concerns at key spots, which only adds to the pressure on a Saturday that already asks a lot of the home team. If the Gophers are going to spring an upset, they will have to find answers quickly and keep the game from turning into the kind of field-position grind UCLA tends to win. [Read more 🡒]
Gophers Showed Something Important When St. Thomas Made This Tight
Minnesota got a useful early-season test from St. Thomas and answered it with enough balance to keep control in a 76-62 win. Isaac Asuma led the way with 20 points and four 3-pointers, while Jaylen Crocker-Johnson added 16 points and 10 rebounds and Nolan Groves and Grayson Grove chipped in enough scoring to give the Gophers a steady offensive base.
The matchup carried a little extra edge because it was the first time the programs had met in generations, and St. Thomas made it far tighter than a routine nonconference game. For a Minnesota team that is now 2-0, the bigger takeaway may have been less about the final margin and more about how it handled a game that demanded poise, shot-making and contributions beyond one main scorer. [Read more 🡒]