Coach Ben Johnson earned his first victory at the helm for Minnesota in its season-opening 71-56 victory vs. Kansas City.

The 40-year-old Johnson is a Minnesota alum who played for the Golden Gophers from 2002-04. Johnson was most recently an assistant at Xavier from 2018-21. Johnson was an assistant at Minnesota from 2013-18.


Johnson is the 18th men’s basketball coach in Minnesota history. While in high school, Johnson guided DeLaSalle High School to two Minnesota state championships and was a two-time first-team all state selection.

Johnson began his collegiate playing career at Northwestern from 1999-01.

Minnesota posted a 14-15 overall record and 6-14 record in conference play last season under former coach Richard Pitino. Pitino served as Minnesota’s coach for the previous eight years.

Next up for Minnesota is a home contest vs. Western Kentucky on Nov. 12 (6:30 p.m. EST/ESPNU).