Four things learned from Gophers' fourth straight win: Mike Mitchell Jr.'s spark, etc.

The Gophers men's basketball team's fourth straight win, Thursday against Ball State, was a sign it has come a long way since an 18-point loss at San Francisco over Thanksgiving week.

It's fitting that Bay Area-native Mike Mitchell Jr. is playing his best basketball since suffering that humbling defeat back home in front of his friends and family.

"I always thought I could play at this level," said Mitchell, who had a season-high 20 points Thursday. "It's just circumstances that it didn't happen right away."

The Big Ten didn't flourish right away in nonconference play this season against opponents outside of the major conferences. Going into Christmas weekend, the Big Ten has 10 losses combined against teams outside of the six major conferences.

But the Gophers have avoided a slip-up — at least at Williams Arena. They improved to 8-0 at home against teams from lower-level conferences after Thursday's 80-63 win.

Mitchell's big performance was among four things learned from the Ball State game:

After starting the first 63 games of his career at Pepperdine, Mitchell could've easily sulked once he had to come off the bench to begin this season with the Gophers.

The 6-2 San Jose, Calif., native accepted this role and tried to make an impact as a sixth man. His strides even before being inserted into the starting lineup helped take his game to a higher level.

Mitchell had 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field, including 4-for-5 from three-point range. It was his fifth double-digit scoring performance in the last six games, including two recent starts.

Last season in the West Coast Conference, Mitchell hit double figures in eight of nine games, including six straight. He's been known to get on a scoring roll but his chemistry with fellow transfer Elijah Hawkins has grown into something potentially lethal for Big Ten opponents.

Mitchell opened the game with back-to-back threes on passes from Hawkins, who looks for his roommate early and often.

The Gophers checked on Pharrel Payne after he smacked his head onto the floor on an awkward fall in the second half Thursday, but it didn't appear to be serious enough to keep him out for long.

Payne sat for about four minutes. Ball State cut a 15-point deficit to just seven points with just under 11 minutes left. His inside presence after returning made a big difference in the U regaining the momentum.

The 6-9 big man had seven of his 13 points in the last 10 minutes of the game, including a couple of layups during a critical 11-0 run late in the second half.

Payne and forward Joshua Ola-Joseph (12 points Thursday) are the two most athletic players on the roster. The U's sophomore tandem has been tough to stop at the rim, which has helped the Gophers establish scoring in the paint with Dawson Garcia sidelined.

"He's getting tougher," Gophers coach Ben Johnson said. "In Pharrel's stage of growing, every game is a chance for him to gain that experience and toughness — kind of grow into his role."

Whatever gives Hawkins his constant motor and relentless drive should be bottled up in an energy drink and sold to the masses.

The 5-11 Howard transfer is now tied for first in the nation with 7.6 assists per game, but he's also been the biggest reason the Gophers have been off to better starts. Even after a nine-day break from games, Hawkins opened Thursday with enough juice to share with his teammates.

Pushing the pace, the Gophers opened with a 26-9 lead after Hawkins' jumper midway through the first half capped an 8-0 run. He already had four of his 12 points, four of his nine assists and four of his seven rebounds at that point.

A week after breaking the school's single-game record with 17 assists vs. IUPUI, Hawkins came one assist short of his fourth straight double-figure assist game Thursday. But he continues to be one of the hottest players in the country dishing the ball.

In the last four games, Hawkins has 48 assists and just eight turnovers, including an impressive 26 assists and two turnovers in the last two games. Wow.

Garcia dressing in uniform and warming up before Thursday's game against Ball State probably had some fans hoping he might see the floor after missing two games with an ankle injury.

But the 6-11 junior remained on the bench, watching his teammates take care of business without him. Garcia averages a team-best 18.2 points per game, but the Gophers were able to replace his offense with five starters scoring in double figures to combine for 68 points.

There has been obvious growth from several players with Garcia out, so imagine what the Gophers will look like when their all-conference preseason big man returns. Will he be back just before Big Ten play, when the Gophers host Maine on Dec. 29? He seems to be "in a pretty good spot," Johnson said.

"He's obviously progressed pretty good," Johnson said. "He did more [Thursday] in shootaround than he's done since it happened. Thankfully, we were able to be a little bit greedy and hold him out. Now we have an extended break. We'll see what it looks like when he gets back."