MINNEAPOLIS (AP) —Niko Medvedstood in a crowd that swarmed the Williams Arena court after Minnesota upset Indianain his Big Ten debut, beaming during hispostgame television interviewthat was broadcast through the sound system for all the fans to hear.
"I'm where I fell in love with the game," Medved said, glancing toward the seats he used to sit in as a kid as he tried to process the enormity of the milestone on his new job with the program he not only grew up a few miles away from but served as a student manager to launch his coaching career.
Medved turned to yell, "Go Gophers!" at the students who had surrounded him for congratulations and selfies after the 73-64 victory Wednesday night that handed the 22nd-ranked Hoosiers their first loss under their new coach,Darian DeVries.
"What a night," Medved said. "It's really hard to be prouder of a group of young men than I am of these guys."
With injuries sidelining two starters and three reserves, the Gophers (5-4) took the court at far less than full strength. They had three players pick up four fouls apiece. Leading scorer Cade Tyson played the entire game, and Isaac Asuma and Langston Reynolds each played 38-plus minutes.
"You're going to be tired. You're going to be sore. You've just got to make the next play. Hey, guys want to play a lot of minutes, right? That's not too bad."
Minnesota's first month under Medved has hardly been smooth. Three players, including California transfer B.J. Omot, have not been available at all. Starting center Robert Vaihola was sidelined by a knee injury four games ago, and starting point guard Chansey Willis Jr. just had season-ending surgery on his foot after breaking it last week. The Gophers lost last month at Missouri and dropped neutral-site games to San Francisco, Stanford and Santa Clara.
"I told them, 'People are going to count you out,'" Medved said. "We've got to find a way to just be as good as we can be."
Grayson Grove, one of only two players who remained from last season after Medved replaced Ben Johnson, ran down Hoosiers standout Tucker DeVries toblock his dunk attemptwith the Gophers trailing 29-22 late in the first half. That play came early in a stretch of 8:38 without a basket for Indiana that lasted well after intermission, the type of crowd-boosting, statement-making contribution from a redshirt freshman in a limited role that transcends the boxscore column.
Though the attendance was counted at just 8,582, less than 60% capacity in another sign of how much work Medved has to do to make the Gophers relevant again in not only the Big Ten but the robust Twin Cities entertainment market, the fans made their voices heard when it counted. And they had plenty of big plays to cheer for.
"It's not like some magical speech you go into or whatever. You try to empower your guys to believe," Medved said. "They're the ones who are doing the work. They're the ones who are diving on the floor. They're the ones who are fighting through the screens."
DeVries and Medved, two offour new head coachesin the conference this season along with Ben McCollum at Iowa and Buzz Williams at Maryland, both used stops at Drake as stepping stones to the Big Ten. McCollum did, too.
The Hoosiers (7-1, 0-1), who were averaging nearly 90 points per game before this, posted their season-low score. They have another tough test Saturday in Indianapolis against No. 6 Louisville.
"It was going to happen at some point, but the main thing now is now that you've lost one, how do you respond?" DeVries said. "We have a group that's pretty connected. We have some guys who've played a lot of basketball. I expect them to come ready."
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