The Minnesota Golden Gophers' men's basketball team released its full non-conference schedule for the 2024-25 season on Friday morning.
The schedule features nine home matchups for the Gophers, all against mid-major programs as well as two games at the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando in late November.
The Gophers will start their 2024-25 season on November 16 when they host the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. Oral Roberts is two years removed from a 30-5 season and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Golden Eagles were 12-19 overall and 5-11 in Summit League action.
Three days later on November 9, the Omaha Mavericks will come to Williams Arena. The Mavericks have had four-straight losing seasons but did put together their best season since 2019 last year with a 15-18 record, a quality improvement from their 9-23 record in 2022-23.
Over the course of six days between November 13 and November 19, the Gophers will host North Texas (Nov. 13), Yale (Nov. 16), and Cleveland State (Nov. 19).
Despite just one NCAA tournament appearance in the time span, North Texas has been a solid program since 2017 with seven straight winning seasons. The Yale Bulldogs are coming off their third NCAA Tournament appearance in five years and Cleveland State after struggling between 2015 and 2019, have become a well respectable program since 2020 with four-straight winning seasons including three-straight 20+ win seasons coming into this fall.
Prior to heading to Orlando for the ESPN Events Invitational, the Gophers will play host to the Central Michigan Chippewas on November 25. The Chippewas in 2024 will look to follow up their best season since 2018 after going 18-14 last season including 12-6 in MAC action.
On November 28 and 29, the Gophers will be in Orlando for the ESPN Events Invitational, beginning the invitational with a matchup against Wichita State before facing either Florida or Wake Forest on November 29.
Wichita State once the cream of the crop in the Missouri Valley Conference is coming off their first losing season since 2007, a 15-19 record under head coach Paul Mills.
On the other hand, Florida is coming off a 24-12 record in 2023-24 while Wake Forest went a respectable 21-14 last season but missed the NCAA Tournament.
After returning from Orlando, the Gophers will host Bethune-Cookman to open up December on December 1. The Wildcats went 17-17 last season including an 11-7 record in SWAC play.
Following their matchup against Bethune-Cookman, the Gophers will have 20 days off, not playing again until December 21 against Fairleigh Dickinson. After appearing in the NCAA Tournament in 2023, FDU finished with a 15-17 record last season under first-year head coach Jack Castleberry.
They'll then finish off their non-conference schedule with a December 29 matchup against Morgan State. The Bears this upcoming season will look to finish with a .500 or better record for just the fourth time since 2010.
The combined record of Minnesota's non-conference opponents last season not including Wake Forest (21-14) or Florida (24-12) was 166-164.
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