Jamison Battle's jumper with just under 14 minutes left in the first half Sunday gave the Gophers men's basketball team 14 points. That number was significant because it surpassed the Gophers' shockingly low first-half point total from their previous game.
Gophers get off to faster start but hit scoreless skid, lose to Michigan 60-56
Ta'Lon Cooper posted a double-double and Minnesota rebounded from its woeful performance against Purdue, but the Wolverines held on for a tight win in Ann Arbor.
January 23, 2023 at 12:29PM
Just when the Gophers thought they got their confidence back offensively, they missed 10 consecutive shots during an eight-minute scoring drought in the first half.
Coach Ben Johnson's team kept battling defensively despite more scoring issues, but the Gophers saw Hunter Dickinson score 15 of his 23 points in the second half in a 60-56 loss at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
"I challenged the guys to be who we are and play more to our identity," Johnson said on a video conference call. "I thought we had the right mind-set today of defense, toughness and playing with that force — not necessarily worrying about the offensive side of the ball."
The Gophers (7-11, 1-7 Big Ten) received a scare late in the second half when Dawson Garcia nailed a three-pointer but came down awkwardly with a defender under him.
After limping to the locker room with an apparent ankle injury, the Gophers' leading scorer returned to the game, but he couldn't carry his team to another road upset.
Garcia, who had 28 points in a Jan. 12 victory at Ohio State, finished with 13 points, four fouls and seven of the team's 15 turnovers that led to 23 Michigan points.
Battle bounced back from his scoreless game in Thursday's 61-39 loss to No. 3 Purdue with 14 points. And Ta'Lon Cooper finished with a team-high 15 points and 10 rebounds, but the Gophers fell to Michigan for the second time this season.
With Garcia hurt and in foul trouble, the Gophers still pulled within 55-51 after Battle's jumper and assist on a layup from Pharrel Payne with 1 minute, 13 seconds left after trailing by nine.
Following a defensive stop, Cooper seemingly picked up an offensive foul on a charge with 35 seconds to go, but the officials overturned the call. Cooper then hit the second of two free throws for a 55-52 game.
On the ensuing possession, Michigan's Will Tschetter, a Stewartville, Minn., native, drilled two free throws after an intentional foul to get a five-point margin that sealed the game.
The Gophers, who led 20-10 in the first half, held Michigan to 37% shooting and were nearly even in rebounding (37-36) and points in the paint (26-28). But they allowed the Wolverines to gain control after Garcia sat with his second foul in the first half.
Garcia scored a team-high seven points in only 11 minutes in the first half. The Wolverines (11-8, 5-3) never led in the opening 20 minutes, but they outscored Minnesota 13-3 in the last 9:05, which included an 8-0 run sparked by Dickinson to tie the game 23-23 at halftime.
A big difference from the U's near historically poor offensive performance Thursday was how the Gophers jumped out to an 8-0 start behind Battle and Garcia, who had just seven points Thursday combined vs. the Boilermakers.
Battle entered Sunday coming off the worst two-game stretch of his career with a combined eight points on 4-for-20 shooting in losses to Illinois and Purdue at home by a combined 40 points. The All-Big Ten preseason forward had been hampered by a lingering back injury, but on Sunday Battle resembled the player who had 27 points in last season's victory at Michigan.
Despite coming up short for the second road victory this year, the Gophers got back to playing the way Johnson expects them to play: tough, together and defensive-minded.
In their previous meeting this season, the Wolverines won 90-75 and led by as much as 32 points. So the Gophers have something to build on going into Wednesday's home game vs. Indiana.
"When you compete like that you give yourself a chance," Johnson said. "That's the standard. It's our challenge now to play like that for longer periods of time in back-to-back games."
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.
Projected Gophers starting center Frank Mitchell will miss Wednesday night's opener against Oral Roberts because of a shoulder injury and will be reevaluated next week.
