Gophers men’s basketball team enhances its uptick by overcoming No. 15 Oregon

The early national conversation about the Gophers men’s basketball team this season was that just having Dawson Garcia wasn’t enough to compete in the Big Ten.

The Big Ten has been put on notice. Ben Johnson seems to have a Minnesota team that can compete with anyone right now.

One of four players in double figures Saturday afternoon, Garcia scored 31 points and led the Gophers to their third straight victory and second in a row vs. a ranked opponent at home, a 77-69 upset of No. 15 Oregon in front of an announced crowd of 11,062 at Williams Arena.

“I’m sure people thought I was crazy when I said we were getting better, even though we weren’t getting results,” Johnson said. “People were calling me an idiot, but I knew it because I’m here every day. I see it every day.”

Parker Fox, a senior from Mahtomedi, told his teammates before Saturday’s warmups, “there’s no way we’re losing this game,” he said.

The Gophers (11-9, 3-6 Big Ten), who celebrated with fans storming the court Saturday, gave Oregon its first road loss of the season and defeated their highest-ranked opponent since upsetting No. 7 Michigan in 2021.

“I just felt the energy and the atmosphere in the gym,” said Fox, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds. “It felt like 20,000 the way they were loud and riled up. I think that’s what we want.”

Jackson Shelstad completed a three-point play after fouling out Fox with 1:33 to play, pulling Oregon within 70-68. The Ducks got the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead, but Garcia took a charge, then made a running layup to make it a four-point advantage.

The Ducks (16-4, 5-4) were outscored 7-1 in the final minute, which included an emphatic game-ending slam from Garcia before fans rushed the floor. A similar scene took place on Jan. 16 when Garcia’s long three-pointer at the buzzer upset No. 20 Michigan 84-81 in overtime.

“Court storms were in mind. Winning big-time games were in mind,” said Garcia about why he wanted to play for the homestate Gophers. “These are definitely moments that you dream of as a kid. Once they come you want to just press on even harder to make more memories happen.”

The Gophers jumped out to their biggest lead against a Big Ten opponent this season Saturday after Garcia’s 10 early points, including a three, made it 26-8.

The Gophers playing this well offensively wasn’t an aberration. They started off Big Ten play 0-6, but they fell 89-88 in double overtime to Ohio State on Jan. 6. After the OT victory over Michigan, they had a 17-point lead in Tuesday’s 72-67 victory at Iowa.

The Ducks, who beat Alabama and Texas A&M this season, trailed 44-38 at halftime, but they used an 8-0 run to take the lead for the first time in the game to open the second half.

Feeding off the crowd’s energy, the Gophers took back control. Fox split the defense and put down a reverse slam to make it 63-55. Femi Odukale, who finished with 10 points after limping off the floor earlier in the night, had a putback dunk for a 65-60 lead with 3:21 remaining.

Lu’Cye Patterson had eight of his 11 points in the first half. Mike Mitchell Jr. had a season-high 10 assists for the Gophers, who shot 53% from the floor and had 22 assists.

The Ducks, who were tied for fourth place with Wisconsin in the Big Ten before Saturday, were led by Brandon Angel’s 18 points, but leading scorer and rebounder Nate Bittle was scoreless in 24 minutes.

The Gophers, who moved up to 15th in the league, had lost 16 games in a row against ranked teams before beating Michigan. The turning point came from a players-led meeting after the 80-59 loss at Wisconsin on Jan. 10.

“That didn’t faze me at all,” Johnson said. “That’s part of being a winner — being able to handle adversity against a really good opponent. Sometimes you have to go through that. We wouldn’t be here today if we didn’t have to go through some of that.”