Some of the concerns about roster depth for next season’s Gopher men’s basketball team were washed away Tuesday night as four-star recruit Isaiah Ihnen verbally committed to the University of Minnesota.
Ihnen, a 6-foot-9 forward from Germany, picked the Gophers over Tennessee, Oregon, Arizona State, TCU and Texas.
Ihnen, 18, told the Star Tribune’s Marcus Fuller that he’ll have an opportunity to start as a freshman and could be used as a wing or even play point guard similar to how Amir Coffey was used this past season.
He told 247 Sports that he nearly committed to TCU but gave Minnesota a chance to impress him with an official visit, and that’s what happened and head coach Richard Pitino “blew me away and gave me a whole different perspective.”
Ihnen went on to tell 247 Sports that he should be able to improve Minnesota’s shooting right away.
Pitino and the Gophers have now landed three commits to their Class of 2019, with Ihnen the highest rated by 247 Sports.
- Isaiah Ihnen – 4 stars – 6-foot-9 guard/forward (86th nationally)
- Tre Williams – 3 stars – 6-foot-4 shooting guard out of Utah
- Sam Freeman – 3 stars – 6-foot-10 center out of Texas
Ihnen is actually the eighth highest-rated recruit the Gophers have landed since 247 Sports began rating prospects nearly two decades ago.
- Kris Humphries (2003)
- Royce White (2009)
- Daniel Oturu (2018)
- Amir Coffey (2016)
- Rodney Williams (2009)
- Isaiah Washington (2007)
- Ralph Sampson III (2008)
- Isaiah Ihnen (2019)
- Lawrence Westbrook (2006)
- Spencer Tollackson (2004)
Minnesota’s roster depth has been in question since Dupree McBrayer and Matz Stockman graduate this spring, Amir Coffey has declared for the NBA Draft and Isaiah Washington is transferring.
