What happened?
Dawson Garcia again showed off his star power, but foul trouble and another injury to a key player made Saturday’s game come down to the final minute for the Gophers men’s basketball team in a 68-64 victory against Nebraska Omaha at Williams Arena.
Garcia, who finished with a game-high 24 points, made one of two free throws to make it 66-64 with 45 seconds left. After the Gophers came up with a critical defensive stop, Lu’Cye Patterson made two free throws to give his team a four-point cushion with 19.6 seconds remaining.
Starting guard Mike Mitchell Jr. went down awkwardly after a steal and missed layup around the 15-minute mark in the second half. Mitchell didn’t return after failing to put weight on his lower left leg as he exited.
“It was unfortunate and bad luck,” coach Ben Johnson said. “But with all the stuff that didn’t go our way, it goes back to at the end of the day you still have to find a way to win. It’s not a beauty contest. We have to be OK with winning ugly.”
Coming off his 30-point game opening night vs. Oral Roberts, Garcia watched the Gophers struggle to find an offensive rhythm without him and trail 33-30 at halftime. The Gophers shot 8-for-23 in the first half outside of Garcia.
Garcia went to bench with his fourth foul with Omaha leading 53-50 with 8:19 remaining. The Gophers desperately needed a spark, and they got it from Isaac Asuma and Trey Edmonds. Asuma’s three-pointer and Edmonds’ free throws helped them take the lead, 59-57, with five minutes left. Brennan Rigsby’s steal and dunk capped a 7-0 run for a four-point advantage.
“I felt like we needed that,” Edmonds said. “We kept trying to find those areas where we needed an energy spark. I felt like that was a big turning point in the game.”
What does it mean?
The Gophers dodged a bullet Saturday. They haven’t lost to a nonleague opponent outside of the major conferences at home since falling to Milwaukee on Dec. 23, 2015.