The 2020–21 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represented the University of Minnesota in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Gophers were led by eighth-year head coach Richard Pitino and played their home games at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota as members of the Big Ten Conference. The Gophers finished the season 14–15, 6–14 in Big Ten play to finish in 13th place. They defeated Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten tournament before losing to Ohio State in the second round.

Following the season, the school fired Richard Pitino after eight years at the school. On March 23, 2021, the school named Minnesota alum and former Minnesota assistant coach Ben Johnson the new head coach.

Previous season The Gophers finished the 2019–20 season 15–16, 8–12 in Big Ten play to finish in 12th place. The Gophers defeated Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten tournament before the tournament was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. All other postseason tournaments including the NCAA tournament were later canceled effectively ending the season.

Offseason

Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Payton Willis 0 G 6'4" 200 RS Junior Fayetteville, AR Transferred to College of Charleston Bryan Greenlee 3 G 6'0" 175 Freshman Gainesville, FL Transferred to Florida Atlantic Brady Rudrud 10 G 6'2" 190 Senior Eden Prairie, MN Graduated, walk-on Daniel Oturu 25 C 6'10" 225 Sophomore Woodbury, MN Declared for NBA Draft Alihan Demir 30 F 6'9" 235 Senior Ankara, Turkey Graduated Michael Hurt 42 F 6'7" 220 Senior Rochester, MN Graduated

Incoming transfers Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School Brandon Johnson F 6'8" 200 Senior Chicago, IL Western Michigan Liam Robbins C 7'0" 235 Junior Davenport, IA Drake Both Gach G 6'6" 183 Junior Austin, MN Utah

Recruiting classes

2020 recruiting class

2021 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

! colspan=9 style=|Regular season

! colspan="9" style=|Big Ten tournament

Rankings

*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.

References