The Gophers were led by fifth-year head coach Richard Pitino and played their home games at Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota as members of the Big Ten Conference.

[9] On January 5, 2018, Reggie Lynch was suspended from the University of Minnesota due to multiple sexual assault allegations that had occurred in 2016.

[10] The school's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office suspended Lynch from the University until 2020.

[12] The 2018 Big Ten tournament will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

[14] The Gophers were initially slated to hold only one public exhibition game against Concordia-St. Paul, in addition to a closed scrimmage against Creighton.

However, in response to the devastation from hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, the NCAA announced that it would allow Division I basketball teams to apply for a waiver to play a third exhibition game if the proceeds were donated to charity.

The game was scheduled to be played at Maturi Pavilion, with all proceeds being donated to the American Red Cross hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico.