San Jose State forward Robert Vaihola Commits to Minnesota

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have added another forward to their 2025-26 roster, as San Jose State transfer Robert Vaihola has committed to the Gophers.

Vaihola comes to Minneapolis after three years at San Jose State, where he played during the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons. He appeared in 66 games, including 31 starts, while averaging 7.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest.

The 6-foot-8 forward also spent one year at Fresno State as a freshman, playing in 22 games and averaging 1.5 points per game. He did, however, shoot an impressive 76.5% from the floor in his limited sample size. For his career, Vaihola has been a consistent shooter, boasting a career shooting percentage of 62.9%.

Vaihola is the fourth transfer portal commitment for Minnesota since head coach Niko Medved took over the program late last month. All four transfer commitments have been forwards, with Vaihola joining Minnesota native and Cal transfer BJ Omot, Colorado State transfer Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, and Davidson transfer Bobby Durkin.

With Vaihola’s addition, the Gophers’ roster for the 2025-26 season now stands at seven players, leaving eight scholarship openings still to be filled.

In addition to his 7.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game this past season for San Jose State, Vaihola also averaged nearly 1.5 blocks per game, totaling 44 blocks in 31 games played. Heading into his redshirt senior season, he has accumulated 69 blocks in 88 career games.

"Rob was one of the best rebounders in the Mountain West last season, and we saw firsthand what he could do," Gophers head coach Niko Medved said in a press release. "He has a great physical presence in the paint, a gritty competitor, and just a force around the rim. Off the court, he's an amazing person to have on our team, and we're excited that he's a Gopher."