# 1996–97 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team

The 1996–97 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota during the 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team, coached by Clem Haskins, played their home games in Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 31–4, 16–2 in Big Ten play to win the Big Ten championship. They received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region. There they defeated Southwest Texas State and Temple to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. In the Sweet Sixteen, they defeated Clemson and UCLA to advance to the Final Four for the first time in school history. There they lost to Kentucky.
In 1999, an academic fraud scandal revealed that Minnesota academic counseling office manager Jan Gangelhoff had done coursework for at least 20 Minnesota basketball players since 1993. Four players from the Minnesota basketball team were immediately suspended, pending an investigation for academic fraud. Head coach Clem Haskins, men's athletic director Mark Dienhart, and university vice president McKinley Boston all resigned. The NCAA sanctioned Minnesota by vacating all appearances in the 1994, 1995, and 1997 NCAA Tournaments and 1996 and 1998 National Invitation Tournaments, as well as individual records of those student-athletes found to have committed academic fraud. The NCAA further issued show-cause penalties for Haskins and Newby (both until October 23, 2007) and Gangelhoff (until October 23, 2005). The Gophers were also stripped of the Big Ten title due to the scandal.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 23* | No. 23 | Stephen F. Austin | W 101–55 | 1–0 | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| November 26* | No. 24 | West Virginia | W 76–61 | 2–0 | Target Center Minneapolis, MN |
| November 29* | No. 24 | vs. Puerto Rico-Mayagüez San Juan Shootout | W 104–62 | 3–0 | San Juan, PR |
| November 30* | No. 24 | vs. Creighton San Juan Shootout | W 64–63 | 4–0 | San Juan, PR |
| December 1* | No. 24 | vs. No. 10 Clemson San Juan Shootout | W 75–65 | 5–0 | San Juan, PR |
| December 5* | No. 16 | at Alabama | L 67–70 | 5–1 | Coleman Coliseum Tuscaloosa, AL |
| December 15* | No. 17 | St. John's | W 77–39 | 6–1 | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| December 17* | No. 16 | at Rhode Island | W 82–72 | 7–1 | Keaney Gymnasium Kingston, RI |
| December 21* | No. 16 | at Nebraska | W 70–56 | 8–1 | Bob Devaney Sports Center Lincoln, NE |
| December 23* | No. 16 | Alabama State | W 114–34 | 9–1 | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| December 28* | No. 15 | Long Island University | W 104–84 | 10–1 | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| December 31* | No. 15 | Mercer | W 94–53 | 11–1 | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| January 2 | No. 15 | Wisconsin | W 65–48 | 12–1 (1–0) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| January 4 | No. 15 | at Michigan State | W 68–43 | 13–1 (2–0) | Breslin Center East Lansing, MI |
| January 8 | No. 11 | at No. 15 Indiana | W 96–91 $^{OT}$ | 14–1 (3–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, IN |
| January 11 | No. 11 | No. 16 Michigan | W 70–64 | 15–1 (4–0) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| January 14 | No. 7 | at Illinois | L 90–96 | 15–2 (4–1) | Assembly Hall Champaign, IL |
| January 18 | No. 7 | at Ohio State | W 73–67 | 16–2 (5–1) | St. John Arena Columbus, OH |
| January 23 | No. 8 | Iowa | W 66–51 | 17–2 (6–1) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| January 25 | No. 8 | Purdue | W 91–68 | 18–2 (7–1) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| February 1 | No. 6 | at Northwestern | W 75–56 | 19–2 (8–1) | Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, IL |
| February 5 | No. 4 | Penn State | W 85–70 | 20–2 (9–1) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| February 12 | No. 3 | at Purdue | W 70–67 | 21–2 (10–1) | Mackey Arena West Lafayette, IN |
| February 15 | No. 3 | at Iowa | W 68–66 | 22–2 (11–1) | Carver–Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, IA |
| February 19 | No. 2 | Ohio State | W 60–48 | 23–2 (12–1) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| February 22 | No. 2 | No. 23 Illinois | W 67–66 | 24–2 (13–1) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| February 26 | No. 2 | at No. 24 Michigan | W 55–54 | 25–2 (14–1) | Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, MI |
| March 1 | No. 2 | No. 22 Indiana | W 75–72 | 26–2 (15–1) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| March 6 | No. 2 | Michigan State | W 81–74 | 27–2 (16–1) | Williams Arena Minneapolis, MN |
| March 8 | No. 2 | at Wisconsin | L 65–66 | 27–3 (16–2) | Wisconsin Field House Madison, WI |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 14* CBS Regional | (1 MW) No. 3 | vs. (16 MW) Southwest Texas State First Round | W 78–46 | 28–3 | Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO |
| March 16* CBS Regional | (1 MW) No. 3 | vs. (9 MW) Temple Second Round | W 76–57 | 29–3 | Kemper Arena Kansas City, MO |
| March 20* CBS Regional | (1 MW) No. 3 | vs. (4 MW) No. 14 Clemson Sweet Sixteen | W 90–84 | 30–3 | Alamodome San Antonio, TX |
| March 22* CBS | (1 MW) No. 3 | vs. (2 MW) No. 7 UCLA Elite Eight | W 80–72 | 31–3 | Alamodome San Antonio, TX |
| March 29* CBS | (1 MW) No. 3 | vs. (1 W) No. 5 Kentucky Final Four | L 69–78 | 31–4 | RCA Dome Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll[. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest Source . All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Awards

Team MVP
* Bobby Jackson