Isaac Asuma played many sports growing up, but basketball is the only one that made him into a  Minnesota Gopher. 

Asuma said that while he had always played basketball, it was mainly third in the list of sports that he played up until seventh grade. 

 “Something flipped a switch in my head, and I was like ‘Yeah, I can do this,’” Asuma said. 

Jolene Asuma, Isaac’s mom, said for a while, baseball was his favorite sport, even after trying football and basketball. However, that ended up changing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The baseball season got canceled, and we did a lot of basketball that summer,” Jolene said. “He just really grew and was like ‘I think this is it for me.’” 

She said that while he did continue to play baseball and football in high school, basketball was the sport that he really loved. 

One thing that both Isaac and Jolene love about being Gophers is how accessible the games are for family. 

“I’m glad he stayed in Minnesota,” Jolene said. “We went to every home game, it was something to look forward to every week.” 

Asuma is one of the three players who stayed with the Gophers going into the 2025-2026 season. He had an impressive freshman year with the Gophers. 

He averaged 5.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and an average of 24.7 minutes played. In his debut game against Oral Roberts, Asuma scored six points, had two assists and added one steal.

One of the main reasons Asuma stayed with the team was because of the new Gophers coach, Niko Medved. During the 2024-2025 season, Asuma played under head coach Ben Johnson. 

Johnson was then fired by the University back in March of this year and later replaced by Medved. Asuma said after just one meeting with Medved, he knew he wanted to stay. 

“He has the right mindset, and he is about the right things,” Asuma said. “He will be able to turn this program around, and I want to be a part of that.” 

The two other players who stuck with the Gophers into the next season are Grayson Grove and Erick Reader. The two of them are both roommates with Asuma. 

Grove agreed that Medved was a driving factor for staying in Minnesota. 

“I loved everything he had to say,” Grove said. “Just the vision he has for the program is just super, super exciting for me.” 

Grove said it is nice to still have some familiar faces on the team going into this next season. 

“It is super nice having Isaac on the team still,” Grove said. “He is just the guy you can always look up to, he’ll always be there if you ever need help. Every team needs a guy like that.” 

Jolene said throughout Isaac’s career in basketball, one of his biggest strengths is how level-headed he is.

“He is never too high and never too low, he is actually very stoic,” Jolene said. “People would always say that you would never know if he scored a 3-point shot, or a half-court shot, or just had a turnover.” 

The Gophers have an almost entirely new roster heading into next season. They have all been training and getting to know each other during summer practice. 

Asuma said training with the new guys has been a great experience. 

“All the guys bring so much energy, and they are all really good players,” Asuma said. “They are all just fun to be around.” 

Asuma said off the court, the team has been grabbing food together and hanging out. 

Asuma has a set of goals that he would like to achieve next season, one of which is being an All-Big Ten player. However, his biggest goal is to help the team in any way he can. 

“I just really want to help the team win,” Asuma said. “I got tons of experience of playing time last year, so hopefully the work that I put in the off season will show.”