ROSEMONT, Ill. - Around the middle of last season, after turnover-plagued losses to Northwestern and Purdue, Minnesota coach Tubby Smith had seen enough.

He needed to do something to fix his players’ penchant for handing the ball over. So he started reminding them. And reminding them.

Before practices. Before games. During practices. During games. Whenever he was around, turnovers became topic 1, 1A and 1B.

“He brings it up a little too much,” senior forward Damian Johnson said. “He makes sure everyone knows we take care of the ball.”

Just three Gophers had more assists than turnovers a season ago - Johnson, guard Al Nolen and little-used reserve Kevin Payton.

Every other player, from leading scorer Lawrence Westbrook to cult hero Blake Hoffarber to big man Ralph Sampson III had more turnovers than assists. Hence the drill instituted mid-season last year.

“During practice, we do a little drill where we get three balls,” Johnson said. “Every time you lose a ball, once you lose all the balls you’ve got to run then.

“A lot of guys don’t want to run during practice.”

So instead, Minnesota’s players have gotten better at the drills. They’ve worked on ball security.

So far, it’s unclear how much difference it has made. In its 98-49 win over Minnesota State-Moorhead in an exhibition, the Gophers had 17 turnovers and Smith is already chiding them about it.

“We got off to a good start defensively,” Smith told reporters Monday night. “That’s how we set the tone in most games, and I think our guys have a pretty good appreciation for that.

“The one area was turnovers, we got a little careless there.”

Johnson points to that two-game losing streak as the turning point in Minnesota’s season last year - a trend the Gophers don’t want to happen again.

Minnesota was 16-1 entering that Northwestern game a year ago. The Gophers struggled that day and the rest of the season. They finished the year 6-10, including a second-round Big Ten tournament loss to Michigan State and a first-round NCAA exit against Texas.

After the loss at Northwestern, Minnesota didn’t win another road game the rest of the year, falling at Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Illinois.

It also leaves the biggest question facing Minnesota this year - will the Gophers let another small slippage in performance knock out another potentially special season. In this year’s Big Ten, with as many as eight teams projected to be NCAA tournament contenders, any collapse could be magnified.

“Will be able to handle adversity,” Johnson said. “I think last year we didn’t handle adversity well and we broke down after the loss to Northwestern.

“It affected our whole season. After that we weren’t much the same team anymore.”

Ball security will go a long way to changing that trend this year.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.