First-year coach Ben Johnson doesn't want to imagine where the Gophers would be without senior captains Eric Curry and Payton Willis, who both weren't expected to play this season.
Eric Curry scores 22 points, Gophers men's basketball gets back into win column by beating Penn State
Eric Curry, who had 12 of his career-high 22 points in the first half, was finally feeling completely healthy again after injuring his left ankle Jan. 12.
February 13, 2022 at 5:47AM
Last March, Willis was considering playing pro overseas after leaving Minnesota and finishing his senior season at College of Charleston in South Carolina.
The weather had turned from frigid to the heat of summer when Curry sat in the Gophers offices as a graduate assistant after announcing his retirement from hoops.
But after deciding to reunite for one last season together, Curry and Willis wouldn't let their team continue to slide in Big Ten play. The veteran duo combined for 40 points to help the U end a five-game losing streak with a 76-70 victory over Penn State on Saturday night at Williams Arena.
"We've been in close games all season against top teams in this league, but we just didn't make winning plays," said Curry, who had 12 of his career-high 22 points in the first half. "Tonight we made winning plays that good programs do."
The Gophers (12-10, 3-10 Big Ten) took a 48-42 lead early in the second half after Curry's six consecutive points, including his first three-pointer of the season. Fittingly, the long-range basket came on the 10th assist from Willis, his longtime friend.
Curry, who battled back previously from three major injuries in his career, was finally feeling close to fully healthy after injuring his left ankle following a 19-point performance in a 71-69 loss Jan. 12 at Michigan State.
"He's obviously a big part of our team," said Willis, who had 18 points. "When he went down our production kind of went down and our flow in our offense suffered from that. He did a great job today. They gave him a lot of open shots and he knocked them down."
Curry and Willis scored 17 consecutive points for the Gophers during a 20-10 run in the second half. Curry's jump hook made it 56-48 with 12:45 remaining, but the momentum would swing again.
The Nittany Lions (9-12, 4-9) were 14th in the Big Ten in field goal percentage (40.0) and scoring offense (63.0), but they took advantage of little resistance at the rim from their undersized foe.
Sam Sessoms, who scored 18 points, scored on an off-balanced layup to cap a 19-9 run to give Penn State a 67-65 lead with 3:45 to play.
Sessoms, Seth Lundy, and John Harrar combined for 47 points for Penn State, which had 38 points in the paint and shot 55% from the field.
Defensive struggles made it closer than it could have been, but the Gophers made key stops down the stretch and limited turnover issues.
In Wednesday's 78-65 loss at Nebraska, the Cornhuskers shot 58% in the second half and scored 25 points off 18 turnovers. The Gophers only committed three turnovers Saturday and held Penn State scoreless for more than a minute with the game in balance.
Following E.J. Stephens' free throw to give the Gophers a one-point lead, Willis backed his defender down and scored for a 70-67 lead with 1:08 left.
After a Penn State timeout, Harrar was forced into a traveling call in the paint. Two possessions later, Sessoms was called for taking extra steps. Stephens and Luke Loewe drilled six free throws late to seal the victory.
Johnson said the Gophers needed a mentality flip after Wednesday. He challenged players to see if they understood how he expected then to play "with force and physicality" for 40 minutes.
"We were shook at Nebraska," Johnson said. "I didn't care about the score or who we played. The challenge is we couldn't be who we were last game because that's not who we are. The mental strength and will they had to flip it to, this was a credit to those guys."
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