Gophers men’s basketball grinds out 83-74 road victory over Penn State

The worst thing that could’ve happened to the Gophers men’s basketball team during its losing streak was for the attitude to sink in that it couldn’t be competitive in the Big Ten.

That was last year’s team. This year is looking different for Gophers coach Ben Johnson, who has his deepest and most talented roster yet.

With leading shot blocker Pharrel Payne injured and point guard Elijah Hawkins fouling out, the Gophers still managed to end a four-game losing streak Saturday night in an 83-74 win against Penn State at Bryce Jordan Center.

“This has to be a confidence-building type win,” Johnson said on the postgame radio show.

The Gophers (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten) trailed by 16 points to open the second half, but they outscored Penn State 52-27 the rest of the way while shooting 59% from the field.

Dawson Garcia finished with 13 of his team-high 20 points in the second half for the Gophers, who won their first game in State College since 2018. Cam Christie scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half to go with eight rebounds on the evening. Joshua Ola-Joseph added 14 points.

“Everybody brought it,” Johnson said. “You don’t come back from being 16 [points] down and win by nine if you’re not a connected group. I’ve got a locker room full of warriors.”

A minute after Parker Fox’s dunk gave Minnesota a two-point lead, Hawkins fouled out. Penn State then shrank the margin to 72-71 with 1:18 to play on two free throws from D’Marco Dunn.

Earlier in the week, the Gophers squandered a lead with 30 seconds left in a 61-59 home loss against Wisconsin, but they wouldn’t make the same mistake this time.

With his team up by a point, Garcia scored on a strong drive plus the foul. He missed the chance for a three-point play, but Ola-Joseph made his count after being fouled while putting back Garcia’s missed free throw to pull the Gophers ahead 77-71.

After being fouled in crunch time, the Gophers made seven straight free throws in the final 1:03. The worst free-throw shooting team in the Big Ten went 23-for-26 Saturday, including 15-for-16 in the second half.

“They had some juice to them, and they were possessed,” Johnson said. “In timeouts, all they kept talking about is, ‘We’re going to win this game.’ They kept making winning plays.”

Penn State (9-11, 3-6) trailed 24-18 with eight minutes left in the first half, but Nick Kern Jr. and Ace Baldwin Jr. sparked a 22-2 run, which included 15 straight points.

After the Gophers trailed 45-31 at halftime, Johnson saw his team open the second half motivated. Garcia and Christie combined for 20 points during a 31-11 run that put the Gophers up 62-56.

Minnesota went to a zone defense in the first half without an inside presence from Payne, who was sidelined with a back injury. The 6-9 sophomore leads the team with 29 blocks.

BOXSCORE: Gophers 83, Penn State 74

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But after allowing the Nittany Lions to score 24 points in the paint in the first half, Johnson switched to man defense. Leading the rim protection was Fox with three of his four blocks in the second half, to go with 11 points off the bench.

A potential game-changing foul came with 8:40 to play when Hawkins picked up his fourth. In the first half, the Gophers suffered a lengthy scoring drought without the nation’s assists leader. But Christie and Mike Mitchell Jr. (11 points) handled Penn State’s pressure late.

A few weeks ago, the Gophers were riding a seven-game win streak before the recent slide. Johnson hopes they’ve returned to that winning mentality in the Big Ten.

“I just told our guys, if they don’t believe it now, then I have to switch them out. We got the wrong guys in the locker room,” Johnson said. “I think they do.”

The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.