# 2010–11 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

The 2010–11 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota in the college basketball season of 2010–2011. The team's head coach, Tubby Smith was in his fourth year at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers played their home games at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota and were members of the Big Ten Conference.

## Season

The Gophers began their season without Devoe Joseph, who was suspended for 6 regular season games due to a violation of team rules. Despite this, the Gophers won the early season Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament by defeating Western Kentucky, then 8th-ranked North Carolina, and West Virginia.
Joseph then abruptly left the team in January, transferring to the University of Oregon.

## Roster

| # | Name | Height | Weight (lbs.) | Position | Class | Hometown | Previous Team(s) |
| 0 | Al Nolen | 6'1" | 188 | G | Sr. | Minneapolis, MN, U.S. | Camden High School (Minneapolis))|Minneapolis Camden HS]] |
| 4 | Dominique Dawson | 6'7" | 240 | F | So. | Minneapolis, MN, U.S. | Minneapolis SW HS |
| 10 | Oto Osenieks | 6'8" | 205 | F | Fr. | Riga, Latvia | Brehm Prep |
| 13 | Maverick Ahanmisi | 6'2" | 175 | G | Fr. | Santa Clarita, CA, U.S. | Stoneridge Prep |
| 15 | Maurice Walker | 6'10" | 289 | F | Fr. | Scarborough, Ontario, Canada | Brewster Academy |
| 20 | Austin Hollins | 6'4" | 160 | G | Fr. | Germantown, TN, U.S. | Germantown HS |
| 22 | Chris Halvorsen | 6'8" | 190 | F | So. | St. Paul, MN, U.S. | Henry Sibley HS |
| 23 | Chip Armelin | 6'3" | 186 | G | Fr. | Sulphur, LA, U.S. | Sulphur HS |
| 24 | Blake Hoffarber | 6'4" | 210 | G | Sr. | Minnetonka, MN, U.S. | Hopkins HS |
| 32 | Trevor Mbakwe | 6'8" | 240 | F | RJr. | Saint Paul, MN, U.S. | St. Bernard's HS Miami Dade College |
| 33 | Rodney Williams | 6'7" | 200 | F | So. | Minneapolis, MN, U.S. | Robbinsdale Cooper HS |
| 45 | Colton Iverson | 6'10" | 258 | F/C | Jr. | Yankton, SD, U.S. | Yankton HS |
| 50 | Ralph Sampson III | 6'11" | 241 | F/C | Jr. | Duluth, GA, U.S. | Northview HS |
| 55 | Elliott Eliason | 6'11" | 242 | C | Fr. | Chadron, NE, U.S. | Chadron HS |

## 2010–11 Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 2, 2010* 7:00 pm | | Northeastern State | W 109–59 | | Williams Arena (10,405) Minneapolis, MN |
| November 8, 2010* 7:00 pm | | Winona State | W 78–72 | | Williams Arena (11,440) Minneapolis, MN |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 12, 2010* 7:00 pm | | Wofford | W 69–55 | 1–0 | Williams Arena (12,228) Minneapolis, MN |
| November 15, 2010* 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | Siena | W 76–69 | 2–0 | Williams Arena (10,752) Minneapolis, MN |
| November 18, 2010* 6:30 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. Western Kentucky Puerto Rico Tip-Off–Quarterfinal | W 95–77 | 3–0 | Coliseo de Puerto Rico (7,205) San Juan, PR |
| November 19, 2010* 7:30 pm, ESPNU | | vs. No. 8 North Carolina Puerto Rico Tip-Off–Semifinal | W 72–67 | 4–0 | Coliseo de Puerto Rico (10,127) San Juan, PR |
| November 21, 2010* 6:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. West Virginia Mountaineers Puerto Rico Tip-Off–Championship | W 74–70 | 5–0 | Coliseo de Puerto Rico (11,575) San Juan, PR |
| November 24, 2010* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | No. 15 | North Dakota State | W 84–65 | 6–0 | Williams Arena (12,056) Minneapolis, MN |
| November 29, 2010* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 15 | Virginia ACC–Big Ten Challenge | L 79–87 | 6–1 | Williams Arena (12,089) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 4, 2010* 7:00 pm, BTN | No. 15 | Cornell | W 71–66 | 7–1 | William's Arena (12,633) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 8, 2010* 6:00 pm | No. 22 | at Saint Joseph's | W 83–73 | 8–1 | Hagan Arena (3,911) Philadelphia, PA |
| December 11, 2010* 12:00 pm, BTN | No. 22 | Eastern Kentucky | W 71–58 | 9–1 | Williams Arena (11,081) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 15, 2010* 7:30 pm, BTN | No. 21 | Akron | W 66–58 | 10–1 | Williams Arena (11,237) Minneapolis, MN |
| December 23, 2010* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | No. 17 | South Dakota State | W 85–73 | 11–1 | Williams Arena (13,302) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| December 28, 2010 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 14 | at Wisconsin | L 60–68 | 11–2 (0–1) | Kohl Center (17,230) Madison, WI |
| December 31, 2010 3:00 pm, BTN | No. 14 | at No. 20 Michigan State | L 62–71 | 11–3 (0–2) | Breslin Center (14,797) East Lansing, MI |
| January 4, 2011 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Indiana | W 67–63 | 12–3 (1–2) | Williams Arena (12,727) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 9, 2011 1:00 pm, BTN | | at No. 2 Ohio State | L 64–67 | 12–4 (1–3) | Jerome Schottenstein Center (17,392) Columbus, OH |
| January 13, 2011 6:00 pm, ESPN | | No. 8 Purdue | W 70–67 | 13–4 (2–3) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 16, 2011 5:00 pm, BTN | | Iowa | W 69–59 | 14–4 (3–3) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 22, 2011 6:00 pm, BTN | No. 15 | at Michigan | W 69–64 | 15–4 (4–3) | Crisler Arena (12,378) Ann Arbor, MI |
| January 26, 2011 7:30 pm, BTN | No. 16 | Northwestern | W 81–70 | 16–4 (5–3) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| January 29, 2011 12:00 pm, CBS | No. 16 | at No. 12 Purdue | L 61–73 | 16–5 (5–4) | Mackey Arena (14,123) West Lafayette, IN |
| February 2, 2011 5:30 pm, BTN | No. 18 | at Indiana | L 57–60 | 16–6 (5–5) | Assembly Hall (16,168) Bloomington, IN |
| February 6, 2011 1:00 pm, ESPN | No. 18 | No. 1 Ohio State | L 69–82 | 16–7 (5–6) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 10, 2011 8:00 pm, ESPN | | Illinois | L 62–71 | 16–8 (5–7) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 13, 2011 5:00 pm, BTN | | at Iowa | W 62–45 | 17–8 (6–7) | Carver-Hawkeye Arena (12,759) Iowa City, IA |
| February 17, 2011 6:00 pm, ESPN | | at Penn State | L 63–66 | 17–9 (6–8) | Bryce Jordan Center (8,446) University Park, PA |
| February 22, 2011 8:00 pm, BTN | | Michigan State | L 48–53 | 17–10 (6–9) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| February 26, 2011 3:30 pm, BTN | | Michigan | L 63–70 | 17–11 (6–10) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| March 2, 2011 7:30 pm, BTN | | at Northwestern | L 57–68 | 17–12 (6–11) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (4,584) Evanston, IL |
| March 6, 2011 12:00 pm, BTN | | Penn State | L 63–66 | 17–13 (6–12) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| March 10, 2011 1:30 pm, ESPN2 | (9) | vs. (8) Northwestern Big Ten First Round | L 65–75 | 17–14 | Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

| Poll | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 | Wk 18 | Final |
| AP | RV | RV | 15 | 15 | 22 | 21 | 17 | 14 | RV | RV | 15 | 16 | 18 | RV | RV | NR | | | | |
| Coaches | RV | RV | 17 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 21 | 25 | 19 | 18 | 20 | 25 | RV | NR | | | | |