# 2013–14 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

The 2013–14 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota in the 2013-14 college basketball season. Led by first year head coach Richard Pitino for the Golden Gophers, members of the Big Ten Conference, played their home games at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They finished the season 25–13, 8–10 in Big Ten play to finish in seventh place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament where they lost to Wisconsin. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated High Point, Saint Mary's, Southern Miss, Florida State and SMU to be the 2014 NIT Champions.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Julian Welch | 00 | G | 6'3" | 195 | Senior | Elk Grove, CA | Graduated |
| Joe Coleman | 11 | G | 6'4" | 200 | Sophomore | Minneapolis, MN | Transferred |
| Chris Halvorsen | 22 | F | 6'8" | 214 | RS Junior | St. Paul, MN | Transferred |
| Andre Ingram | 30 | F | 6'7" | 210 | Senior | Minneapolis, MN | Graduated |
| Trevor Mbakwe | 32 | F | 6'8" | 245 | GS Senior | Saint Paul, MN | Graduated |
| Rodney Williams | 33 | F | 6'7" | 200 | Senior | Minneapolis, MN | Graduated |

## Incoming recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Daquein McNeil PG | Baltimore, MD | Vermont Academy | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Apr 17, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: 69 ||||||
| Dre Mathieu PG | Knoxville, TN | Central Arizona College | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | 160 lb (73 kg) | May 7, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN grade: JC ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: 247Sports: 86th ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2013 Minnesota Signees". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 27, 2012. "2013 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved June 27, 2012. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 1* 7:00 pm | | Cardinal Stritch | W 79–57 | – | Williams Arena (N/A) Minneapolis, MN |
| Nov 4* 7:00 pm | | Concordia | W 101–67 | – | Williams Arena (N/A) Minneapolis, MN |
| Regular season ||||||
| Nov 8* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Lehigh | W 81–62 | 1–0 | Williams Arena (12,957) Minneapolis, MN |
| Nov 12* 7:00 pm | | Montana | W 84–58 | 2–0 | Williams Arena (10,459) Minneapolis, MN |
| Nov 16* 6:00 pm | | at Richmond | W 74–59 | 3–0 | Robins Center (6,422) Richmond, VA |
| Nov 19* 7:00 pm | | Coastal Carolina Maui Invitational Opening Round | W 82–72 | 4–0 | Williams Arena (10,137) Minneapolis, MN |
| Nov 22* 6:00 pm, BTN | | Wofford | W 79–57 | 5–0 | Williams Arena (10,342) Minneapolis, MN |
| Nov 25* 4:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 8 Syracuse Maui Invitational First Round | L 67–75 | 5–1 | Lahaina Civic Center (2,400) Maui, HI |
| Nov 26* 1:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Arkansas Maui Invitational Consolation 2nd Round | L 73–87 | 5–2 | Lahaina Civic Center (2,400) Maui, HI |
| Nov 27* 1:30 pm, ESPNU | | at Chaminade Maui Invitational 7th place game | W 83–68 | 6–2 | Lahaina Civic Center (2,400) Maui, HI |
| Dec 3* 8:30 pm, ESPNU | | Florida State ACC–Big Ten Challenge | W 71–61 | 7–2 | Williams Arena (11,386) Minneapolis, MN |
| Dec 7* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | New Orleans | W 80–65 | 8–2 | Williams Arena (11,228) Minneapolis, MN |
| Dec 10* 7:00 pm, BTN | | South Dakota State | W 75–59 | 9–2 | Williams Arena (11,349) Minneapolis, MN |
| Dec 20* 8:00 pm, BTN | | Nebraska–Omaha | W 92–79 | 10–2 | Williams Arena (11,890) Minneapolis, MN |
| Dec 28* 7:30 pm, BTN | | Texas A&M–Corpus Christi | W 65–44 | 11–2 | Williams Arena (11,855) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| Jan 2 6:00 pm, BTN | | Michigan | L 60–63 | 11–3 (0–1) | Williams Arena (12,225) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 5 1:30 pm, BTN | | Purdue | W 82–79 | 12–3 (1–1) | Williams Arena (11,851) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 8 6:00 pm, BTN | | at Penn State | W 68–65 | 13–3 (2–1) | Bryce Jordan Center (5,010) University Park, PA |
| Jan 11 1:15 pm, BTN | | at No. 5 Michigan State | L 75–87 $^{OT}$ | 13–4 (2–2) | Breslin Center (14,797) East Lansing, MI |
| Jan 16 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | | No. 11 Ohio State | W 63–53 | 14–4 (3–2) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 19 12:00 pm, BTN | | at No. 14 Iowa | L 73–94 | 14–5 (3–3) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena (15,400) Iowa City, IA |
| Jan 22 8:00 pm, BTN | | No. 9 Wisconsin | W 81–68 | 15–5 (4–3) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| Jan 26 5:00 pm, BTN | | at Nebraska | L 78–82 | 15–6 (4–4) | Pinnacle Bank Arena (15,945) Lincoln, NE |
| Feb 1 1:00 pm, BTN | | Northwestern | L 54–55 | 15–7 (4–5) | Williams Arena (12,744) Minneapolis, MN |
| Feb 5 7:30 pm, BTN | | at Purdue | L 74–77 $^{3OT}$ | 15–8 (4–6) | Mackey Arena (12,818) West Lafayette, IN |
| Feb 8 7:15 pm, BTN | | Indiana | W 66–60 | 16–8 (5–6) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| Feb 13 8:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 21 Wisconsin | L 70–78 | 16–9 (5–7) | Kohl Center (17,249) Madison, WI |
| Feb 16 5:00 pm, BTN | | at Northwestern | W 54–48 | 17–9 (6–7) | Welsh-Ryan Arena (6,719) Evanston, IL |
| Feb 19 8:00 pm, BTN | | Illinois | L 49–62 | 17–10 (6–8) | Williams Arena (12,221) Minneapolis, MN |
| Feb 22 5:00 pm, BTN | | at No. 24 Ohio State | L 46–64 | 17–11 (6–9) | Value City Arena (18,809) Columbus, OH |
| Feb 25 6:00 pm, BTN | | No. 20 Iowa | W 95–89 | 18–11 (7–9) | Williams Arena (14,625) Minneapolis, MN |
| Mar 1 5:00 pm, BTN | | at No. 16 Michigan | L 56–66 | 18–12 (7–10) | Crisler Arena (12,707) Ann Arbor, MI |
| Mar 9 4:15 pm, BTN | | Penn State | W 81–63 | 19–12 (8–10) | Williams Arena (12,775) Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten tournament ||||||
| Mar 13 5:30 pm, ESPN2 | (7) | vs. (10) Penn State First round | W 63–56 | 20–12 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (N/A) Indianapolis, IN |
| Mar 14 5:30 pm, BTN | (7) | vs. (2) No. 12 Wisconsin Quarterfinals | L 57–83 | 20–13 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse (N/A) Indianapolis, IN |
| National Invitation Tournament ||||||
| Mar 18* 7:15 pm, ESPN3 | (1) | (8) High Point First round | W 88–81 | 21–13 | Williams Arena (3,493) Minneapolis, MN |
| Mar 23* 2:00 pm, ESPN2 | (1) | (4) Saint Mary's Second round | W 63–55 | 22–13 | Williams Arena (5,489) Minneapolis, MN |
| Mar 25* 8:00 pm, ESPN | (1) | (3) Southern Miss Quarterfinals | W 81–73 | 23–13 | Williams Arena (5,444) Minneapolis, MN |
| Apr 1* 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | (1) | vs. (1) Florida State Semifinals | W 67–64 $^{OT}$ | 24–13 | Madison Square Garden (7,193) New York City, NY |
| Apr 3* 6:00 pm, ESPN | (1) | vs. (1) SMU Championship | W 65–63 | 25–13 | Madison Square Garden (5,268) New York City, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll, (#) during NIT is seed within region. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||