Minnesota men’s basketball and head coach Niko Medved have officially added transfer forward Robert Vaihola from San Jose State, the program announced Wednesday afternoon.
Vaihola is a 6’8″, 260-pound big man who averaged 7.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.4 blocks per game for the Spartans last season. He started all 31 of their games and shot 53.6 percent from the floor.
A native of San Mateo, CA, Vaihola began his college career at Fresno State before transferring to SJSU for the 2022-23 season. He averaged 7.6 points and 6.5 boards per game off the bench as a sophomore, shooting over 71 percent, and then missed the 2023-24 season due to a foot injury.
Vaihola is a traditional low-post power forward. In his three-year career, he’s attempted 325 two-point shots (making 61 percent of them) and zero three-pointers. What he brings to the table starts with defense and rebounding; he’s been one of the best offensive rebounders in the Mountain West over his past two healthy seasons. In addition to crashing the offensive glass, he’ll be a screen-setter who can provide some scoring in the paint.
This past season, Vaihola had a game with seven blocks against Air Force. In March, he had a game against Fresno State with 13 points, 19 rebounds (eight on offense), three assists, three blocks, and two steals. Outside of shooting jumpers, he can do a little bit of everything from the 4 or 5 positions.
Vaihola is a career 58 percent free throw shooter, though he was at 64 percent last year.
This is the fourth addition Medved and his staff have made in the transfer portal. Vaihola joins wings Bobby Durkin (Davidson), B.J. Omot (Cal), and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (Colorado State). And there’s still plenty of work for Medved to do as he builds his first Gophers roster.
Leave a Reply