Ben Johnson hopes his Gophers ignore criticism following 0-3 Big Ten start

Ben Johnson stays off social media during the basketball season, especially his public profile on X.

The last post for the fourth-year Gophers coach was on Nov. 20 when he received a commitment from four-star California big man Parker Jefferson, the crown jewel of a solid 2025 recruiting class.

There hasn’t been much to highlight since for the Gophers (8-6), who have started Big Ten play with three losses.

Instead of expressing excitement on the program’s future, criticism is growing from some Gophers fans about the present struggles under Johnson. The Gophers are the lone winless team in league play entering Monday night’s game against Ohio State at Williams Arena.

“There’s always going to be a certain narrative,” Johnson said. “You can find negativity and outside noise regardless of the situation. It can’t impact our approach every single day.”

The Gophers, who lost at home to No. 20 Purdue 81-61 Thursday, don’t want to be in desperation mode if they can’t get out of the Big Ten basement in a month.

This year, for the first time, the last two teams in the league will not play in the Big Ten tournament, thanks to the conference’s expansion to 18 teams. The Gophers are currently in last place, but there are three teams at 1-3 and six more at 1-2.

“The league isn’t easy,” said senior guard Femi Odukale, who transferred from New Mexico State. “Nobody’s going to wait for us to play our best ball. We just have to come out with our foot on the gate and just be ready to play.”

After Monday, the Gophers play three of the next four games on the road: Friday at Wisconsin, Jan. 13 at Maryland and Jan. 21 at Iowa. In the middle of that stretch, Michigan comes to the Barn on Jan. 16.

If victories are hard to come by during that stretch, the frustration surrounding Johnson and his program could only get louder.

Even after a 19-win turnaround NIT season, Johnson’s name resurfaced on coaching hot seat lists this year. But with three years left on his contract through 2027, he has a $2.93 million buyout if fired after this season.

“This is the first time a lot of those guys have been covered the way we’re covered just as far as media goes,” Johnson said. “Nuances that you’ve got to deal with and handle with that. The pressures. But the more games you get under your belt, the more comfortable you get in that environment and situation.”

In three Big Ten games, the Gophers have been far from comfortable for a full 40 minutes. They have the Big Ten’s worst scoring margin of minus-17.7 points, including double-digit losses to Indiana and Michigan State. Johnson pointed out after falling to Purdue that it at least helped the Gophers to face a few top-tier Big Ten teams early in the schedule.

“The one positive I told them is our first three games were against three of the top five preseason teams in our league,” Johnson said. “With that you should take a certain level of confidence, it’s not necessarily going to get harder as far as the opponents … You’ve got to tighten up that much more. You can’t cave when things don’t go your way and adversity hits.”

Dawson Garcia’s eighth 20-point performance this season Thursday was still not enough to keep the Gophers ahead after leading the Boilermakers midway through the first half and trailing only 28-27 at halftime before being outscored 53-34 in the second.

All Gophers players have to “look in the mirror” to be able to compete in the Big Ten, Garcia said. He is the only one left on the roster who played on the 9-22 team in 2022-23, which went 2-17 in the conference.

Garcia’s experience with that adversity made him equipped to give advice to teammates on how to respond to the slow Big Ten start this year.

“Just staying together,” Garcia said. “Building on the intensity and competitiveness of the first half and carrying it on to practice and future games.”

8 p.m. Monday at Williams Arena

TV; radio: FS1; 1130 AM

The Buckeyes (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten) picked up their biggest win so far this season with an 85-65 upset over No. 4 Kentucky at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 21. That momentum didn’t carry over to the New Year with a 69-62 home loss against Michigan State in Columbus. Bruce Thornton leads Ohio State with 16.9 points and 4.6 assists per game, but he was held to 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting with five turnovers vs. the Spartans.