Niko Medved addressed the media following the Gophers exhibition win over Omaha on Thursday night, sharing his thoughts on the first look the public has gotten at the 2026-27 Gophers men’s basketball team. Medved also shared strong thoughts on Cade Tyson’s eligibility situation and the NCAA’s eligibility problem.
Opening statement from head coach Niko Medved
Niko Medved: It felt good to be back here tonight in The Barn again, and I thought you know for being MEA and the break, I thought we actually had a nice little student turnout today, so I thought that felt good. I always like to do this, there’s nothing like getting the lights on again and kind of going through a game day routine, go through your warm ups, the uniforms on. Obviously, we’ve got things to clean up, but I thought the lot more positives than negatives. I thought the the main group did a nice job. I thought we created a lot of really good shots. More of them could have gone in, but I thought we were doing a good job there. Too many turnovers in the first half. Thought our defense, I thought we were pretty active. I mean, obviously, my main concern was the too many offensive rebounds. That kid’s, both their bigs are really anchors down there. But for the most part, it’s great to be back. A lot of good things, and excited to keep this train rolling. And they’ll count for real here soon.
Looked like Kyan was disruptive in pace and distribution. What did you see out of him?
Niko Medved: Yeah, you know he had been out for a little while with a hamstring. He played some in that Drake scrimmage. I thought he looked more like the guy that I know tonight. I thought he kind of got us going there on the defensive end. Fans can see he plays with great poise and vision, and does a great job setting up his teammates, and he’s got a lot of great instincts that way. I kind of know what he brings to the table, and I think we got to see a little bit of that here tonight. But he looked a lot more like his his old self out there…