1 week Ago
Six players were dealing with injuries or illness for the Gophers men’s basketball team this week, so Ben Johnson knew the next game could be the toughest so far this season. Johnson just didn’t know how ugly it could get. Dawson Garcia, the team’s leading scorer, was questionable but played Wednesday after missing practice with a groin injury.
Starting guard Mike Mitchell Jr., the team’s assist leader, was out with an ankle injury. Going without Mitchell and with Garcia banged up resulted in an atrocious offensive performance in the first half against North Texas, the Gophers scoring just 14 points and trailing by nine at at halftime after shooting 3-for-21.
The worst shooting half in years drew jeers from the Williams Arena crowd and was too much to overcome as the Gophers fell 54-51. The loss nearly turned into a second straight comeback win. Garcia, who finished with 24 points and eight rebounds, scored after an offensive rebound with less than 30 seconds left to pull the Gophers within one, 52-51.
After North Texas missed a free throw, Lu’Cye Patterson’s three-point attempt fell short with eight seconds to play, but the Mean Green appeared to travel grabbing the defensive rebound. The no-call was not met well by Gophers fans, who watched the Gophers give up a transition dunk on the game’s final play. It was the first home nonconference loss for the Gophers against an opponent from outside of the major conferences since they lost to Milwaukee on Dec.
23, 2015. They also nearly lost to Nebraska Omaha last weekend before pulling it out 68-64. The Gophers (2-1) were facing an uphill battle after a 12-minute field goal drought that left them trailing by 11 points in the first half.
They opened 1-for-17 from the field until Garcia’s first basket on a putback cut it to 21-12 with 3:16 left before halftime. Last season, the lowest-scoring first half for the Gophers was 20 points in a 73-55 loss at Nebraska. They shot 31% from the field, which was their lowest field-goal percentage in a game since shooting 29% in a loss to Mississippi State on Dec.
11, 2022, at home. It’s one thing to be shut down by a Nebraska team that reached the NCAA tournament, but North Texas was projected to finish at the bottom of the American Athletic Conference this season. The Gophers picked up two transfers from the AAC in seniors Patterson (Charlotte) and Trey Edmonds (Texas San Antonio), who helped them during Wednesday’s comeback.
Following two three-pointers from Garcia in the second half, Patterson drilled his first shot from beyond the arc to make it 32-30. Edmonds and Garcia both scored four straight points to tie it at 38-38. A three-pointer from Brennan Rigsby gave the Gophers their first lead of the game, 43-42, with 71⁄2 minutes to play, but the Mean Green answered with a 8-0 run to pull ahead again.
Entering Wednesday, the Gophers, UCLA and Washington were the only Big Ten teams with fewer than two players averaging double figures for the season. Garcia was the only double-figure scorer for Minnesota. The 6-11 Savage native was on early lists for the Naismith Player of the Year and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award for the nation’s top center.
He backed up that preseason hype by averaging 27 points through two games, which ranked second in the Big Ten. But the Gophers were hoping not to be a one-man show this season. They ranked 16th out of 18 teams in scoring average (74 points) after two games.
Canisius transfer Frank Mitchell made his season debut Wednesday after missing the first two games with a shoulder injury, but he was limited to 14 minutes. Garcia shot 6-for-9 from the field and 10-for-10 on free throws in the game. But Patterson was the No.
2 scorer with nine points on 3-for-14 shooting. The Gophers shot 31.3% from the field, including 6-for-23 on three-pointers.
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