# 2009–10 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

The 2009–10 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota in the college basketball season of 2009–2010. The team's head coach was Tubby Smith in his third year. The Golden Gophers played their home games at Williams Arena in Minneapolis and are members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 21–14, 9–9 in Big Ten play. They advanced to the championship game of the 2010 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament before losing to Ohio State. They received an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, earning an 11 seed in the West Region. They lost to six-seed and AP #25 Xavier in the first round.

## Season

Royce White signed with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, but did not play due to shoplifting and trespassing charges. He transferred to Iowa State in July 2010.

## Roster

| # | Name | Height | Weight (lbs.) | Position | Class | Hometown | Previous team(s) |
| 0 | Al Nolen | 6'1" | 180 | G | Jr. | Minneapolis | Minneapolis Camden HS |
| 1 | Paul Carter | 6'8" | 205 | F | Jr. | Little Rock, Arkansas | Little Rock Mills HS Missouri State-West Plains |
| 3 | Justin Cobbs | 6'3" | 190 | G | Fr. | Los Angeles | Bishop Montgomery HS |
| 5 | Devoe Joseph | 6'3" | 170 | G | So. | Ajax, Ontario, Canada | Pickering HS |
| 20 | Lawrence Westbrook | 6'0" | 195 | G | Sr. | Chandler, Arizona | Winchendon Prep |
| 22 | Devron Bostick | 6'5" | 210 | G | Sr. | Racine, Wisconsin | St. Catharine's HS SW Illinois |
| 24 | Blake Hoffarber | 6'4" | 200 | G | Jr. | Minnetonka, Minnesota | Hopkins HS |
| 32 | Trevor Mbakwe | 6'8" | 240 | F | RJr. | Saint Paul, Minnesota | St. Bernard's HS Miami Dade College |
| 33 | Rodney Williams | 6'7" | 210 | F | Fr. | Minneapolis | Robbinsdale Cooper HS |
| 34 | Damian Johnson | 6'7" | 210 | F | RSr. | Thibodaux, Louisiana | Thibodaux HS |
| 45 | Colton Iverson | 6'10" | 235 | F/C | So. | Yankton, South Dakota | Yankton HS |
| 50 | Ralph Sampson III | 6'11" | 230 | F/C | So. | Duluth, Georgia | Northview HS |

## 2009–10 Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 5, 2009* 7:00 pm | | Minnesota Duluth | W 114–47 | | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| November 9, 2009* 7:00 pm | | Minnesota State Moorhead | W 98–49 | | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 13, 2009* 7:00 pm | No. 25 | Tennessee Tech | W 87–50 | 1–0 | Williams Arena (12,513) Minneapolis |
| November 16, 2009* 7:00 pm | No. 24 | Stephen F. Austin | W 82–42 | 2–0 | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| November 19, 2009* 7:00 pm, BTN | No. 24 | Utah Valley | W 76–51 | 3–0 | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| November 26, 2009* 7:30 pm, ESPN2 | No. 22 | vs. No. 12 Butler 2009 76 Classic | W 82–73 | 4–0 | Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, California |
| November 27, 2009* 8:30 pm, ESPNU | No. 22 | vs. Portland 2009 76 Classic | L 56–61 | 4–1 | Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, California |
| November 29, 2009* 4:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 22 | vs. Texas A&M 2009 76 Classic | L 65–66 | 4–2 | Anaheim Convention Center Anaheim, California |
| December 2, 2009* 6:15 pm, ESPNU | | at Miami ACC–Big Ten Challenge | L 58–63 | 4–3 | BankUnited Center Coral Gables, Florida |
| December 5, 2009* 2:30 pm | | Brown | W 91–55 | 5–3 | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| December 8, 2009* 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | Morgan State | W 94–64 | 6–3 | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| December 12, 2009* 3:00 pm, BTN | | St. Joseph's | W 97–74 | 7–3 | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| December 15, 2009* 7:00 pm, BTN | | Northern Illinois | W 89–48 | 8–3 | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| December 23, 2009* 6:00 pm, BTN | | South Dakota State | W 92–62 | 9–3 | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| December 29, 2009 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Penn State | W 75–70 | 10–3 (1–0) | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| January 2, 2010 3:00 pm, BTN | | at Iowa | W 86–74 | 11–3 (2–0) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, Iowa |
| January 5, 2010 6:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 4 Purdue | L 60–79 | 11–4 (2–1) | Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana |
| January 9, 2010 2:30 pm, BTN | | Ohio State | W 73–62 | 12–4 (3–1) | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| January 13, 2010 5:30 pm, BTN | | at No. 7 Michigan State | L 53–60 | 12–5 (3–2) | Breslin Center East Lansing, Michigan |
| January 17, 2010 3:30 pm, BTN | | at Indiana | L 78–81 $^{OT}$ | 12–6 (3–3) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| January 23, 2010 11:00 am, CBS | | No. 6 Michigan State | L 64–65 | 12–7 (3–4) | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| January 26, 2010 8:00 pm, BTN | | Northwestern | W 65–61 | 13–7 (4–4) | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| January 31, 2010 12:00 pm, CBS | | at No. 20 Ohio State | L 63–85 | 13–8 (4–5) | Jerome Schottenstein Center Columbus, Ohio |
| February 6, 2010 1:00 pm, BTN | | at Penn State | W 66–64 | 14–8 (5–5) | Bryce Jordan Center University Park, Pennsylvania |
| February 11, 2010 6:00 pm, ESPN | | Michigan | L 63–71 | 14–9 (5–6) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| February 14, 2010 4:00, BTN | | at Northwestern | L 74–77 $^{OT}$ | 14–10 (5–7) | Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois |
| February 18, 2010 8:00 pm, ESPN/ESPN2 | | No. 14 Wisconsin | W 68–52 | 15–10 (6–7) | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| February 20, 2010 7:00 pm, BTN | | Indiana | W 81–58 | 16–10 (7–7) | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| February 24, 2010 7:30 pm, BTN | | No. 3 Purdue | L 58–59 | 16–11 (7–8) | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| February 27, 2010 3:00 pm, BTN | | at Illinois | W 62–60 | 17–11 (8–8) | Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois |
| March 2, 2010 6:00 pm, BTN | | at Michigan | L 55–83 | 17–12 (8–9) | Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| March 7, 2010 5:00 pm, BTN | | Iowa | W 88–53 | 18–12 (9–9) | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| 2010 Big Ten tournament ||||||
| March 11, 2010 6:30 pm, BTN | (6) | vs. (11) Penn State First round | W 76–55 | 19–12 | Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis |
| March 12, 2010 8:00 pm, BTN | (6) | vs. (3) No. 11 Michigan State Quarterfinals | W 72–67 $^{OT}$ | 20–12 | Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis |
| March 13, 2010 3:10 pm, CBS | (6) | vs. (2) No. 6 Purdue Semifinals | W 69–42 | 21–12 | Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis |
| March 14, 2010 2:30 pm, CBS | (6) | vs. (1) No. 5 Ohio State Championship Game | L 61–90 | 21–13 | Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis |
| 2010 NCAA Men's Basketball tournament ||||||
| March 19, 2010 11:30 am, CBS | (11 W) | vs. (6 W) No. 25 Xavier First round | L 54–65 | 21–14 | Bradley Center Milwaukee |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | 25 | 24 | 22 | RV | RV | RV | — | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not released |
| Coaches | 18 | 18 | 16 | RV | — | | | RV | RV | RV | — | | | | | | | | | | |
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings ^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.