Four things learned from Gophers men’s basketball’s comeback win at Penn State

Gophers guard Brennan Rigsby could’ve checked out weeks ago after going scoreless for four games and playing double-digit minutes only twice since Big Ten play resumed in January.

The 6-3 senior always prepared as if his time would come again. It certainly did Tuesday night when the Gophers needed his 14 points off the bench in a 69-61 comeback victory at Penn State.

The Gophers (12-11, 4-8 Big Ten) trailed by 10 points in the first half, but they gave the Nittany Lions their first loss this season when leading at halftime. Penn State was up 25-21 at the break.

“We kind of had a slow start,” said Rigsby, who had 10 points in the second half. “We kind of hung our heads on the offensive side a little. Coming out of halftime, we were really emphasizing getting stops, getting stops. That will translate into offense.”

When Rigsby scores in double figures, the Gophers are 4-0 this season, but he hadn’t done that in conference play until Tuesday. He last reached double digits with 14 points on Dec. 1 vs. Bethune-Cookman.

Rigsby, who started 10 games earlier this season, tied Lu’Cye Patterson for second on the team in scoring Tuesday. Dawson Garcia led the Gophers with 19 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.

“Dawson’s always going to get it going,” Rigsby said. “When we get another couple guys going, it’s really hard to stop us.”

Here are four things learned in the road win at Bryce Jordan Center:

The Gophers struggled in the first half to defend a Penn State team playing without its 7-footer Yanic Konan Niederhauser, who was out with an ankle injury.

The Nittany Lions overcame a lack of size with five players able to get the rim and finish. Gophers coach Ben Johnson adjusted with a four-guard lineup, mostly in the second half. Rigsby, Patterson, Mike Mitchell Jr. and Isaac Asuma played alongside Garcia, their only big man.

“We hadn’t worked a ton on switching everything with certain guys who were in there,” Johnson said. “In that style, offensively you know you’re not going to be able to run plays.”

Johnson said the Gophers got more comfortable in the second half when they knew how to handle Penn State’s pressure and find their spots to score.

Minnesota shot 69.6% from the field in the second half, including 4-for-7 from three-point range.

So much went into stopping Garcia from scoring, Penn State forgot to keep the Gophers' star forward off the glass.

The 6-11 senior got off to a slow start offensively with just six points in the first half on 3-for-9 shooting, but he still grabbed six rebounds. In the second half, Garcia regained his scoring rhythm with 13 points, but he also crashed the boards even harder with eight, including three offensive rebounds.

In the second half, the Gophers outrebounded Penn State 22-13, which included getting eight second-chance points.

That’s impressive with the Gophers going small-ball. Starting forward Parker Fox and reserve bigs Frank Mitchell and Trey Edmonds played a combined eight minutes after halftime. Patterson is undersized inside at 6-2, but he had five of his seven rebounds in the second half.

The most consistent backcourt player for the Gophers in the previous four games was Femi Odukale, who scored in double figures three times and averaged 4.5 assists and five rebounds in that span.

The outcome looked dim once Odukale fouled out with just two points in 16 minutes Tuesday, but his teammates picked up the slack.

Rigsby seemed to get most of the playing time since he was averaging just 1.4 points in 8.8 minutes in Big Ten play coming into the night.

Mike Mitchell Jr. had four fouls, but he was able to score nine points on 3-for-6 shooting from deep, including two critical three-pointers to help the Gophers take their first lead in the second half.

The Nittany Lions averaged 82 points per game on 48.7% shooting from the field this season, which ranked fifth and fourth in the Big Ten entering Tuesday.

Those numbers were drastically different against the Gophers, who held Penn State to 34% shooting (20-for-58) and the team’s second fewest points in a Big Ten game this year.

Sure, the Lions were without their double-figure scoring center, but Ace Baldwin Jr., Nick Kern Jr. and Freddie Dilione V combined for 43 points in an upset against Purdue in early December at home.

On Tuesday, that trio combined for 27 points on 10-for-31 shooting, including 6-for-21 in the second half.

D’Marco Dunn ended up with 18 points to lead Penn State, but he had just seven points on 2-for-6 shooting in the second half.