Despite Gophers' two-game skid, Mara Braun is showing signs of regaining elite form

Minnesota's star guard is coming off her best two-game stretch of the season.

Mara Braun shooting a free throw against USC. | Picture via: University of Minnesota Athletics

After losing 67-54 at Washington on Sunday evening, Minnesota has its first losing streak of the season. But its not all doom and gloom, as star guard Mara Braun had a season-high 18 points, and she might be finally rounding back into her previous form.

A significant reason for the Gophers' preseason hype as a potential NCAA Tournament team in 2025-26 was the return of a healthy Braun. She averaged 17.0 points per game in her last healthy season, and she was even one of 21 players invited to the USA women's AmeriCup trials roster last summer, alongside superstars such as Audi Crooks, LSU's Flau'Jae Johnson and Notre Dame star Hannah Hildago.

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Back-to-back season-ending injuries cut Braun's 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons short, but she was healthy and Minnesota returned its top five scorers from last year's team. The start of her 2025-26 campaign hasn't gone exactly to plan, but she might finally be regaining her confidence.

Braun scored in single digits in nine of the Gophers' first 16 games of the season. She scored in single digits only 12 times in her first 55 games of college basketball. After matching a career-high 10 rebounds in Minnesota's win over No. 21 USC, she has 15 and 18 points in back-to-back games.

The Gophers lost both games to UCLA and Washington, but they will need Braun to perform at a high level if they want to reach their full potential this season. Second-leading-scorer Tori McKinney missed both games, but Braun looked more confident shooting the ball than she has all season.

MARA FROM DEEP 🤯

📺 @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/o7wGo5FTej

— Minnesota Women's Basketball (@GopherWBB) January 18, 2026

Over the last two games, Braun is averaging 16.5 points and 3.5 rebounds on 44.4% shooting from the field and 50% shooting from three-point range. Those are significant improvements from her season-long numbers of 11.3 points per game on 37.3% shooting from the field and 29.0% shooting from three.

Braun averaged 2.9 made threes per game in her last healthy season in 2023-24. She had only one game with at least three made threes before the latest two-game stretch. She has not made at least three threes in back-to-back games.

When fully healthy, Minnesota is an incredibly deep team with McKinney, Grace Grocholski, Amaya Battle and Braun. They don't need Braun to be a 20-point-per-game scorer, but they could badly use improved three-point shooting.

The Gophers' schedule now lightens up considerably with Oregon, Wisconsin, Penn State and Purdue as their next four games. Back-to-back losses is never a good thing, but there's still plenty of reason to be encouraged about this team going forward.