Big man, Robert Vaihola, comes to Minnesota from SJSU
The transfer forwards keep coming this week. Meet Robert Vaihola, from San Jose State University.
.@RobertVaihola is a Gopher‼️〽️
Release: https://t.co/MyENehMmFq pic.twitter.com/xoMUWyjEQJ
— Minnesota Men’s Basketball (@GopherMBB) April 9, 2025
As Niko Medved continues to fill out his roster, he landed his second big man this week with Robert Vaihola.
Robert Vaihola
Ht: 6’8”
Wt: 260
Hometown: San Mateo, CA
Vaihola is a player that Medved is very familiar with after coaching against him in two of the past three seasons in the Mountain West. The newest Gopher spent his freshman season at Fresno State. While a Bulldog, he played just 7 minutes per game and averaged 1.5 points and 2 rebounds.
The next year he transferred to San Jose State. As a sophomore, he played in all 35 games, and scored 7.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. The next season he redshirted (unsure if that was for medical reasons or not) and then played his junior year for the Spartans again. This time he averaged 7.5 points and 7.5 rebounds, starting 31 games.
He now has 1 season of eligibility remaining and has decided to come play for Medved and the Gophers.
With his size, you can expect that he will play a little center and a little power forward. Assuming Medved employs a 4-out, 1-in offense, I would expect that Vaihola would be inside. The hope is that his physicality and rebounding will come with him to the Big Ten. I would say that comparing Vaihola to Frank Mitchell would be a fair comparison.