Ben Johnson scratched his head Saturday, looking at the boxscore and wondering how his team escaped with a 68-64 victory against Nebraska Omaha.
The Gophers missed 11 free throws and shot 3-for-17 from three-point range. They were outrebounded and in foul trouble.
Trailing by three points with less than six minutes left, the Gophers had leading scorer Dawson Garcia on the bench with four fouls and their top guard, Mike Mitchell Jr., in the locker room because of an injury.
Johnson didn’t see his team panic. The Gophers responded to adversity the way he had hoped they would. They used defense and timely baskets to go on a 7-0 run to pull ahead for good down the stretch.
“We were looking for something to get us going,” Johnson said. “It carried us from there and gave guys a little bit of spirit.”
The Gophers (2-0) went 5-3 last season in games decided by five points or fewer and also won seven games in which they trailed at halftime. They trailed 33-30 at halftime against the Mavericks but found a way to win their first close game of the 2024-25 season.
Here are four things learned from the second win of the season:
Changing of the guards
There was no clear decision by the Gophers on the starting point guard entering the season, but the assignment seemed to be heading in Mitchell’s direction after his nine assists in the season-opening 80-57 win vs. Oral Roberts. Mitchell going down with an apparent left ankle injury Saturday meant someone had to replace him.