Brennan Rigsby's career-best performance exemplifies Gophers up-and-down season

Gophers veteran guard Brennan Rigsby came off the bench in Saturday's win and finished with a career-high 20 points, which was capped off by a game-winning three to take down Nebraska on the road. His performance came out of nowhere, which has seemingly been a theme for Minnesota's whole team this season.

To begin the season, Rigsby was a major part of Minnesota's rotation. When Mike Mitchell Jr. went down with an injury, he slid into the starting lineup and averaged 25.1 minutes per game in November. He scored in double figures against Yale and Cleveland State and averaged 6.3 points in the first eight games of the season. He even had a game-winning shot attempt against Wichita State that touched every part of the rim before falling out.

Brennan Risby redeems himself after touching every part of the rim on a game-winner attempt earlier this season against Wichita State.

pic.twitter.com/kzj5SuqRIN
— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) March 1, 2025

After their tournament in Florida, Rigsby scored 14 against Bethune-Cookman on December 1, but in the following 10 games, he scored 23 points total. He had seemingly fallen out of Johnson's good graces, shooting 29% from the field and 17.6% from three during that stretch. He had five games where he played fewer than eight minutes.

Much like Saturday's game against Nebraska, Rigsby came out of nowhere to score 14 points on perfect 5-5 shooting from the field on February 4 at Penn State, sparking an impressive performance on the road for the Gophers. His only issue was that he followed that up with a 0-5 game against Illinois. He fell back out of the rotation with four consecutive games with eight or fewer minutes.

With only three games left on the regular season schedule, it would've been very easy for a player like Rigsby to sulk and look ahead to his plans after the season, but that was not the case. Johnson called his number against Nebraska, and he responded with a career-high 20 points on 7-8 shooting from the field and 5-6 shooting from three.

"Brennan was phenomenal," Johnson said after the game. "I give that kid so much credit, he has never changed; he comes to practice every single day with the same mindset, he gets up his extra shots, he never waivers. That’s why he’s able to step up when we really needed him today."

The Gophers began the season 0-6 in the Big Ten, but they responded with three straight wins over Michigan, Iowa and Oregon. After losing to last-place Washington and getting blown out by Illinois at home, they responded by sweeping USC and UCLA. Lastly, after back-to-back home losses to Penn State and Northwestern, they responded with another win on the road against Nebraska.

Two things @GopherMBB's Brennan Rigsby won't soon forget:

1️⃣. His career-high 20-point day
2️⃣. This postgame interview 😊#B1GMBBall x @b_rigsby35 pic.twitter.com/q6pbAp2pfi
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) March 2, 2025

This Gophers team is filled with at least five players that could be playing their first and only season with the program, and Rigsby is one of them. In the modern transfer portal era, there tend to be a lot of players who put themselves above the team, but that's not the case with this Gophers team. They continue to show up.

"We got a tough team, we're a family out there. We were built for it," Rigsby said after Saturday's win. "The culture is — we're warriors, man. We go out every day — hurt, fresh, we're still going out."

Stay up to date on all things Gophers by bookmarking Minnesota Gophers On SI, subscribing to our YouTube channel, and signing up to receive our free Gophers newsletter.