On April 3 , 2013 , Richard Pitino , son of Louisville coach Rick Pitino , verbally agreed to coach the Golden Gophers . On April 3 , after missing out on the NCAA tournament , the Gophers responded by winning the 2014 NIT championship trophy by defeating SMU . As a result , Pitino claimed his first championship with the team . Following the success of an NIT championship , the Gophers hoped to qualify for the NCAA tournament the following year . However , the team struggled and finished with only six wins in the conference and did not qualify for any major tournament . The 2016 season was a disaster for the Gophers as they only managed to win two conference games . The lone bright spot came during a late season upset against ranked Maryland to give the Gophers their first conference win on the season . Despite the lack of success on the court , the Gophers were able to get Amir Coffey , a highly ranked player from Hopkins to commit to the men 's basketball program . Coffey , along with other recruits Eric Curry and Michael Hurt , were able to help lift the Gophers to a 23-8 regular season record in the 2016-2017 season , and a birth to the 2017 NCAA Tournament , where they attained a 5 seed and lost to 12-seed Middle Tennessee State to finish with a 24-10 record . After the season , things started to unravel for Pitino 's team . Sophomore Eric Curry tore his ACL and MCL in late August , forcing him to miss the entirety of the 2017-2018 season . During the beginning of the season , sexual assault allegations came out against senior center Reggie Lynch , which resulted in Lynch 's suspension and eventual expulsion from the University of Minnesota . Later in the season , sophomore Amir Coffey suffered a shoulder injury and ended up missing the last 12 games of the season . The Gophers ended the season 15-17 , with a 4-14 record in conference play and a first round loss to Rutgers in the 2018 Big Ten Tournament . The 2018-2019 season went much better for the Gophers . They finished with a record of 22-13 , although they only went 9-11 in conference play . Still , after strong wins over No. 20 Wisconsin , and No. 11 Purdue twice , the Gophers finished 4th in the 2019 Big Ten Tournament and returned to post-season play as a 10 seed in the East Region of the 2019 NCAA Tournament . In the tournament , the Gophers beat the 7 seed Louisville Cardinals in the first round 86-76 . In the Round of 32 , the Gophers lost to the Michigan State Spartans 70-50 , who would end up the champions of the East Region
2019 Big Ten Tournament
2019 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball