NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Head coach Dan Kosmoski announced that the St. Olaf College men's basketball team will travel to historic Williams Arena for a matchup with the NCAA Division I University of Minnesota in an exhibition game to kick off its 2022-23 season on Wednesday, Nov. 2.

The Golden Gophers and Oles will tip off at 7 p.m. at "The Barn" in what will be Kosmoski's return to Williams Arena and St. Olaf's first game against Division I opposition since 2009. Single-game tickets will go on sale to season ticket holders and Gopher Score Members on Tuesday, Sept. 20 and to the general public on Thursday, Sept. 22.

"We are grateful and excited for the invitation extended by Coach (Ben) Johnson to play the Gophers in an exhibition," Kosmoski said. "It will be a special night for our team, parents, coaches, and alumni to be playing in a Big Ten environment, especially at The Barn. As a former Golden Gopher player and assistant coach, it will be like going home for me. When I shared the news with our players, their reaction was priceless – this will be a special night on many levels!"

Now entering his 29th season at St. Olaf, Kosmoski was an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota under Jim Dutcher, Jimmy Williams, and Clem Haskins for nine seasons from 1985-94, helping turn around a program that had lost 19 Big Ten games in a row to one that made the Sweet 16 in 1988-89 and the Elite Eight in 1989-90. The Gophers also won the National Invitation Tournament (NT) in 1992-93.

In his playing days, Kosmoski played for the Golden Gophers during the 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons and was teammates of lottery picks Mychal Thompson and Kevin McHale, as well as Flip Saunders. The 1976-77 team finished 24-3 overall.

"I have known Coach Johnson over the years and have so much respect for him as a person and coach," Kosmoski added. "It has been fun to watch from a different perspective what he and his staff have already done in setting the building blocks for a bright Gopher future in such a short time."

The Oles and Golden Gophers have met six times previously in men's basketball, but the exhibition will mark the first matchup between the two programs in 100 years. The University of Minnesota has won five of the first six encounters, which were all held at the University of Minnesota Armory. St. Olaf won the most recent meeting by a score of 15-11 in the 1922-23 season.

St. Olaf's most recent game against NCAA Division I opposition was a 69-58 loss at the University of North Dakota on Dec. 29, 2009 while UND was in the second year of its transition to Division I. That game marked the second-straight season the Oles had played a Division I opponent, as St. Olaf fell by a 77-61 score at South Dakota State University the year before in SDSU's first year as an active Division I member.

Kosmoski's team is coming off a 16-11 season in 2021-22 that saw St. Olaf appear in the semifinals of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs for the fifth time in the last eight years of the tournament. With 352 career victories at St. Olaf, Kosmoski ranks among the top 50 active NCAA Division III coaches in terms of wins and he has led the Oles to the NCAA Tournament four times.