Gophers coach Ben Johnson rarely used his bench last season on a team led by seniors, but he's got the opposite approach through two games this year.
Four takeaways from Gophers men's basketball vs. St. Francis Brooklyn
Ben Johnson relied on his bench to spark the Gophers to improve to 2-0 this season with Friday's win vs. St. Francis Brooklyn.
November 12, 2022 at 2:42PM
Johnson's had no choice but to go deeper into his rotation early to get younger players more experience. The bench responded with 32 points in a 72-54 win against St. Francis Brooklyn on Friday at Williams Arena.
"You look at the bench we only got three guys to sub in," Johnson said about Pharrel Payne, Taurus Samuels and Joshua Ola-Joseph.
But that was enough to give the Gophers a huge lift and rest some starters in the second half, which will help keep them fresh with a quick turnaround Monday vs. DePaul at home.
Here are four takeaways from Friday's win against St. Francis Brooklyn:
Henley's confidence
In Monday's 61-60 win against Western Michigan, Jaden Henley was the first freshman to start the season opener for the Gophers since Daniel Oturu and Gabe Kalscheur in 2018-19.
That shows you how much the Gophers are decimated by injuries at , guard/small forward, but it also is an example of how much they believe in Henley's ability.
The 6-7 freshman struggled with four points on 1-for-4 shooting in his debut, but Henley bounce back with a team-high 16 points on 5-for-8 shooting in 27 minutes Friday. He committed five turnovers but only two came in the second half.
Henley, an under-the-radar, three-star prospect from California, has the size to defend multiple positions, but he also has the ball handling and playmaking skills to play small forward through point guard offensively.
Free throw improvement
You could get a sense of "here we go again" when the Gophers opened the game 1-for-4 from the free throw line Friday against St. Francis Brooklyn.
There was no way anyone could forget the U's dreadful 9-for-23 shooting performance at the foul line in the season-opening win. That easily could've led to an upset.
Johnson said the Gophers didn't spend any extra time on free throws. And that turned out to be just fine with them improving to 13-for-19 shooting Friday, including 8-for-11 in the second half.
Most impressive were freshmen Henley, Joshua Ola-Joseph and Pharrel Payne combining to shoot 8-for-9 on foul shots, including Henley going 4-for-4.
Three-point defense
Two games aren't a huge sample size, but the Gophers have to be pleased with how they've defended the three-point line so far this season.
Johnson's team was older last season (six seniors), but the U ranked worst in Big Ten play in three-point percentage defense with opponents shooting 38.4% in 20 league games.
Western Michigan and St. Francis Brooklyn combined to shoot 24.1% from beyond the arc (13-for-54) against the Gophers.
The Terriers entered Friday's game coming off making 11 threes in their 96-56 win against Mount St. Mary. Zion Bethea had 24 points with four threes in that game, but he was held to six points on 3-for-9 shooting at the Barn, including 0-for-2 from three.
Best dunker?
The Gophers were supposed to be longer and more athletic this season, but they didn't really put that on display until Friday's victory.
Ola-Joseph and Payne, who are the team's most explosive players, combined for four slams on the night. Johnson couldn't make up his mind when asked who was the better dunker.
The 6-7, 215-pound Ola-Joseph brought the crowd to its feet with a poster dunk on a St. Francis Brooklyn defender in the lane with two minutes left for a 70-48 lead.
The No. 1 Ducks will be in Madison, where the Badgers are rested coming off a bye week. Meanwhile, while USC and Nebraska square off at the L.A. Coliseum.
