Gophers’ men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson says Mark Coyle ‘has my back’

Head coach Ben Johnson said Monday that athletics director Mark Coyle has been “really supportive” while the Gophers men’s basketball program struggled to a second consecutive last-place finish in the Big Ten this season.

Coyle has “been a guy that has been been awesome to work with and to know that he has my back and he sees the growth and development,” Johnson said. “He sees the path and trajectory of where we are going and who we have in our program.”

When women’s basketball coach Lindsay Whalen said she stepped down after five seasons last week, attention turned to Johnson’s future after two seasons in the conference basement. Johnson did not sound this week like a coach looking over his shoulder, saying Coyle “totally understands” the situation the program is in.

“He is like me, though, he is really competitive and he wants to win and he knows we can win here — and that we are going to win here,” Johnson said.

The first-time head coach views his situation this way: He had a complete roster rebuild in Year 1 and went 13-17 overall and 4-16 in Big Ten play. Then with only two healthy returners — starting wing Jamison Battle and backup big man Treyton Thompson — went 8-21, 2-17, with a heavy reliance on inexperienced freshman, this season.

When Johnson talks about who he has in the program, he’s primarily referring to potential all-Big Ten big man Dawson Garcia and four freshmen — Pharrel Payne, Josh Ola-Joseph, Jaden Henley and Braeden Carrington.

Minnesota wants to reap the benefits of those players getting older and gelling together. But that objective took a hit with news Sunday that Battle is likely playing his final games for Minnesota on Wednesday. He is leaning toward a professional playing career, possibly in an overseas league.

The 14th-seeded Gophers will play 12th-seed Nebraska (16-15, 9-11) in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Wednesday in Chicago. Tipoff is approximately 8 p.m., and the winner will play Maryland at roughly 8 p.m. Thursday.

Minnesota pushed Nebraska to overtime before losing 81-79 at Williams Arena on Jan. 7. The U gave away the Feb. 25 game in Lincoln with 19 turnovers as the Cornhuskers won 78-67.

Last year, the Gophers lost 60-51 to Penn State in the first round of the conference tournament, and Johnson wants to see his team take the next step Wednesday.

“You’ve got to have that feeling that you don’t want it to end quite yet and to battle to have one more day and one more game,” Johnson said.

Garcia said that not-done-yet mentality was mentioned immediately after the 71-67 loss to Wisconsin on Sunday.

“Our next game,” he said, “is not our last game.”

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