The team's head coach, Tubby Smith was in his fourth year at Minnesota.

The Golden Gophers played their home games at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota and were members of the Big Ten Conference.

The Gophers began their season without Devoe Joseph, who was suspended for 6 regular season games due to a violation of team rules.

[3] Despite this, the Gophers won the early season Puerto Rico Tip-Off tournament by defeating Western Kentucky, then 8th-ranked North Carolina, and West Virginia.

Joseph then abruptly left the team in January, transferring to the University of Oregon.