Injuries piling up for Gophers men’s basketball

Gophers men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson went to practice on Monday knowing that he won’t have starting point guard Mike Mitchell Jr. for Wednesday night’s game against North Texas.

By the time practice started, he knew it will probably be worse. Johnson started his media access on Tuesday by listing the players who weren’t able to go on Tuesday: Mike Mitchell (ankle) is out; so are big man Frank Mitchell (shoulder); guard Kadyn Betts (heel); and, gulp, forward Dawson Garcia (groin).

“Everybody talks about wanting to have a big role, and you want to be able to do certain things, especially offensively,” Johnson said. “Well, when a guy’s down, it’s time to step up.”

Or in this case, make that plural.

Mike Mitchell is out for at least two weeks, Johnson said, with a badly sprained ankle. Frank Mitchell “hasn’t done much of anything” since dislocating his right shoulder in an exhibition game against Hamline. Betts has a heel injury, and Garcia has a groin injury that appeared to bother him at times last Saturday.

In addition, Johnson said Saturday that Caleb Williams, a senior transfer from Macalester, has mononucleosis, and isn’t practicing, either.

“I know this,” Johnson said. “The guys that were able to go yesterday are locked in and learned a valuable lesson from (the) last game.”

In that last game, the Gophers had to grit out a four-point victory over Omaha after trailing at halftime, and most of the second half. Johnson said his players overlooked the Summit League team, and senior forward Parker Fox agreed.

“There’s always key games where you get punched in the mouth a little bit and you either lose, or you find ways to adjust,” Fox said. “And luckily, this one came with a win; we didn’t have to lose a game to kinda realize that.”

Mike Mitchell landed badly after a steal and layup attempt in the second half of Saturday’s 68-64 victory over Nebraska Omaha and had to be helped off the floor.

“It just depends on what type of…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/injuries-piling-gophers-men-basketball-225100723.html

Author : Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Publish date : 2024-11-12 22:51:00

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