Gophers' Season Officially Ends in College Basketball Crown Loss to Baylor

The Gophers have punched above their weight all season, but they looked like a team with a six-man rotation in Wednesday's 67-48 loss to Baylor. It will be one-and-done at the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Minnesota will officially finish the 2025-26 season with a 15-18 record. Here are five key takeaways.

Cade Tyson's legacy

Tyson came to Las Vegas with 609 total points this season. His 19 points against Baylor give him the third -most points scored in a single season of Gophers program history, at 628 behind Mychal Thompson and Khris Humphries. The transfer portal has complicated things, but Tyson's 2025-26 season should go down as one of the best in program history.

Cade Tyson’s final game in a Gophers uniform

19 points
FGs: 7-14
FT: 4-5
7 rebounds

One of the best single seasons in program history.

pic.twitter.com/CTP5oPoZC7
— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) April 2, 2026

Athletic difference

Baylor has been one of the most athletic teams in college basketball all season with star duo Cameron Carr and Tounde Yessoufou. The difference looked significant against the Gophers. The plethora of injuries has forced Minnesota's hand, but Baylor looked faster, stronger and more athletic from the minute things tipped off. If they want to compete with the top of the sport next season, athleticism should be near the top of their priorities in the transfer portal.

Lack of size

Grayson Grove developed into a legitimate Big Ten big man this season, but he looked small as Minnesota's lone frontcourt player against Baylor. 6-foot-9 Baylor big man Cade Powell only out-weighs him by four pounds on the official team lists, but those numbers looked 20+ pounds and multiple inches off. It's clear that Minnesota will need to add some size from the transfer portal this offseason.

Winless in neutral-site games

It's a fairly small sample size, but Medved will start his Gophers tenure with a 0-5 record in neutral site games. Minnesota lost to San Francisco at the Sanford Pentagon in November. They went 0-2 against Stanford and Santa Clara in Palm Springs at the Acrisure Invitational. And they were one and done at the Big Ten Tournament and the College Basketball Crown.

Conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament are obviously played at a neutral site. which is a big reason why so many teams test themselves in the regular season. It will be fascinating to monitor what opportunities Minnesota has to improve that mark in year two under Medved on the 2026-27 schedule.

Defensive adjustments

The Gophers didn't get any players back from injury on Wednesday night, and that didn't stop Medved's coaching staff from deploying a new defensive look. They've been creative with their defense all season, and they essentially played a full-court zone against Baylor with the guards picking up full court, and one player staying at mid-court. It clearly didn't do much, but a willingness to try different things is not something that every coach shows.