Four things learned at Maryland for Gophers men’s basketball

Early in the second half Monday, Dawson Garcia picked up his third foul with the Gophers men’s basketball team clinging to a one-point lead at Maryland.

The 6-11 senior knew the Gophers needed a boost, so he drove the lane and scored on a tough layup, drawing a foul.

Though he missed the free throw, Garcia was determined. He turned to his bench and told his coaches to leave him in the game. But they couldn’t for long.

Foul trouble for Garcia and others was only one of the issues in a 77-71 loss to the Terrapins in College Park, Md.

“It’s extremely hard because obviously you know they’re going to run stuff to go at Dawson defensively,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson said on postgame radio. “When you’re trying to climb back and not let them stretch the lead and he’s on the bench, it’s not a great feeling.”

The Gophers (8-9, 0-6 Big Ten) are noticing some disturbing trends continuing in conference play going into Thursday against No. 20 Michigan at home.

Here are four things learned from the loss at Maryland:

Everyone knew going into Monday’s matchup with the Terrapins that Garcia would be facing arguably his biggest challenge yet this season against the frontcourt tandem of 6-10 Derik Queen and 6-9 Julian Reese.

Garcia tested Maryland early by stretching the defense with two three-pointers in the first five minutes, but nothing was easy for him the rest of the way.

He finished with 21 points on 6-for-13 shooting and seven rebounds, but he also committed a season-high five turnovers.

Battling Queen and Reese without much help in the frontcourt took its toll on Garcia, who got into foul trouble in the second half.

In last year’s victory against Maryland, Pharrel Payne, Joshua Ola-Joseph and Parker Fox combined for 22 points to bolster Minnesota’s interior with Garcia.

On Monday, Fox and Frank Mitchell were the only posts other than Garcia to play double figures in minutes, but they combined for just eight points.

Minnesota’s biggest player is 6-10, 255-pound senior Trey Edmonds, but he didn’t see the floor for the first time in Big Ten play Monday. He wasn’t listed on the Big Ten’s injury report.

The Gophers were one of the best in the Big Ten at taking care of the ball through the first 15 games. They were averaging just 9.8 turnovers.

In the last three games, the Gophers are averaging 14.3 turnovers. Points off turnovers were the biggest factor for Ohio State (19), Wisconsin (19) and Maryland (15) in those three losses.

Playing at a faster pace led to the Gophers committing 11 of their 16 turnovers in the first half. Maryland’s pressure also had Garcia and Isaac Asuma combining for eight of their 10 turnovers before halftime.

The Terrapins were rattled early when the Gophers outscored them 11-0 in the first half, but then, Queen displayed why he’s projected to be an NBA first-round pick this summer.

The gifted freshman from Baltimore scored seven straight points, including a dunk just before halftime to cut the Gophers advantage to 35-32 at the break.

Queen had scored under double figures in two of his previous three games. His overcoming a slow start was the worst thing to happen for the Gophers. He ended up with 18 of his career-high 27 points in the second half on 6-for-8 shooting and 6-for-7 free throws in the half.

On Minnesota’s side, Asuma also bounced back from a rough game recently. The Cherry, Minn., native went scoreless with four fouls at Wisconsin, but he scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half against the Terrapins.

Typically playing the point guard role, Asuma looked to score Monday and had a season-high 12 field goal attempts and no assists in his 32 minutes for the first time in his college career. That aggression might also have led him to have five turnovers.

Free throw shooting definitely cost Johnson some victories this season, but that wasn’t the case at Maryland.

The Gophers entered the night ranked last in the Big Ten by a mile with just 58% shooting at the foul line through five league games (51-for-88).

They clearly made an improvement Monday going 19-for-23. Lu’Cye Patterson had 15 points, including leading the Gophers with 9-for-10 free throw shooting.

With Patterson getting to the basket, not settling for jumpers and drawing fouls, that could be an important step for the backcourt moving forward.