Numbers aren’t everything, but attendance continues to drop overall.

Average attendance at Williams Arena for Gophers men’s games declined from 9,451 two seasons ago to 8,139 last season, but the atmosphere at games clearly improved.

“We were talking to a couple Penn State players who were saying how crazy our fan base is,” senior guard Mike Mitchell Jr. said at media day. “It makes our environment that much better. It helps a lot.”

As of Tuesday, the Gophers had sold 4,442 non-student season tickets, according to data obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune. Those numbers could increase before the Nov. 6 opener vs. Oral Roberts, but they are down from 4,780 last season and 5,704 two seasons ago.

“We want it to be full every night,” Gophers senior forward Parker Fox said. “But you grow that over time, and you have to win to do it. We get that. Nobody wants to watch a team that doesn’t win games. That’s boring.”

Northwestern’s full capacity at Welsh-Ryan Arena is 7,039, less than half of the Gophers’ 14,625 at the Barn. But the Wildcats reached back-to-back NCAA tournaments while creating a home-court advantage with smaller crowds the past two seasons.