Niko Medved Loses Yet Another MN Gophers Starter
There was always going to be growing pains for Niko Medved, in is first season Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball coach.
Thirteen games into his tenure, the Golden Gophers are 8-5 and 1-1 in the Big Ten. Making Medved’s job even more difficult: a plethora of injuries cutting down a roster that was thin to start the season.
MN Gophers lose another starter for the season
And on Thursday, the injury bug struck the starting lineup again when news broke that first-year transfer Robert Vaihola — who’s been out since November — will undergo season-ending knee surgery.
News: #Gophers starting center Robert Vaihola will have knee surgery on Friday and is expected to miss the rest of the season, @PioneerPress learned Wednesday.
— Andy Greder (@andygreder) December 31, 2025
Context: The San Jose St. transfer has not played since Nov. 18, when he aggravated that knee issue.
Robert Vaihola is the second Minnesota Gophers starter to be lost for the season due to injury. Around the same time they lost Vaihola, starting guard Chansey Willis Jr broke his foot against Stanford.
What are Gophers losing in Robert Vaihola
Vaihola transferred in from San Jose State during the offseason, and immediately established himself as a starting-caliber talent. He started five games, averaging 5 points (70% FG) and 7.6 rebounds in 21.4 minutes.
San Jose State wasn’t Vaihola’s first west coast college. He actually started at Fresno State, where he spent one season, before becoming a Spartan.
Following a successful sophomore year at his new school, where Vaihola scored 7.6 points and grabbed 6.5 rebounds per game, the San Francisco native was forced to take a medical redshirt for what would have been his junior year.
When he returned in 2024-25, he was a starter, averaging 7.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, before hitting the transfer portal again and landing in Dinkytown. Now, Vaihola will likely request another medical redshirt.
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