Gophers men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson said Tuesday that potential starting big man Frank Mitchell will be sidelined for Wednesday night’s opener against Oral Roberts because of a shoulder injury.
Mitchell suffered a dislocated right shoulder after diving for a steal at midcourt in last week’s exhibition win over Hamline. He wasn’t wearing a sling Tuesday and won’t require surgery, but Mitchell’s status is week-to-week, according to Johnson.
“It’s seeing how much strength he can get back in the shoulder,” Johnson said. “It could be realistic for next week, so we’ll see how he feels.”
Mitchell, a 6-8, 260-pound junior transfer from Canisius averaged, 12.1 points and 11.6 rebounds, the latter of which ranked fourth in Division I last season. He started both Gophers exhibition games in the frontcourt alongside All-Big Ten preseason forward Dawson Garcia.
Oral Roberts has one player taller than 6-8 on its roster, so the Gophers hope being down a key player inside will not be a significant factor Wednesday night.
“The good part in the nonconference with size is sometimes it’s hard when you play two bigs,” Johnson said. “Some of these teams will go small-ball to try to match it.”
Replacing Mitchell’s minutes in the post rotation will likely be 6-8 senior Parker Fox, 6-8 sophomore Kadyn Betts and 6-10 senior newcomer Trey Edmonds, who transferred from Texas San Antonio. Betts had primarily been used as a reserve wing last season.
“Now you’re able to slide KB over a little bit and get him some extended run,” Johnson said. “Thankfully, if we’re going to have injuries, have it early. You can go small and give other guys looks.”
