Gophers men’s basketball team airs frustration in players-led meeting after loss at Wisconsin

MADISON, WIS. – Ben Johnson emerged exhausted from the locker room more than an hour after the Gophers men’s basketball team lost 80-59 to rival Wisconsin.

The fourth-year Gophers coach had lost his voice, but he didn’t do most of the talking during a players-led discourse that aired concerns about a season threatening to collapse on itself.

“Everybody talked,” Johnson told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Eventually you air it out and kind of go down the line and you ask guys, ‘All right, what do you think the issue is?’ So, everybody talked. Everybody had a voice. Again, it’s not about the meeting, but the message was more about [how] the performance has to translate.”

The Gophers (8-8, 0-5) are off to their worst Big Ten start since losing the first 13 games of the 2014-15 season under Richard Pitino, but they’re not ready to give up on the season with 15 games remaining in league play, said senior Dawson Garcia.

“We just all have to come to the realization that this is our livelihood,” said Garcia, who had a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. “This is how we’re going to pay our families. Everybody, really. The coaches and the players. It’s got to be taken to that level.”

Minnesota’s players were already frustrated after a blown opportunity for their first Big Ten victory on Monday, when the Gophers lost to Ohio State 89-88 in double overtime.

But at least they gave themselves a chance that night. Wisconsin led by 30 points with just under four minutes to play Friday at the Kohl Center.

No player other than Garcia scored in double figures for the Gophers, who were outscored 50-30 in the second half.

“We’ll look at the film, but I just thought they cut harder,” Johnson said. “They moved faster. They were more physical. Everything it took to win, they just took it up a notch. And we didn’t. We stayed the same.”

A lengthy locker room speech also followed the U’s 82-67 loss at Indiana on Dec. 9, but that was primarily Johnson challenging his players, especially his seniors, to show more leadership and toughness.

Seniors Femi Odukale and Garcia said Friday night that what players talked about after the Wisconsin loss will stay within the team.

“I can’t really discuss much about what we said in the locker room,” Odukale said. “But things got to get better. We have to look forward. I can’t really [say] anything now, but just to get better.”

In their five Big Ten losses, the Gophers stayed close only against Ohio State. Against Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan State and Indiana, they were outscored by an average of 14.8 points.

The Badgers, who won by their largest margin against the Gophers since 2014, led just 30-29 at halftime after being held to 32% shooting from the field, but they responded with a 40-12 run to take their eighth straight Border Battle victory. The Gophers allowed Wisconsin to score 19 points on 15 turnovers.

“When it got to winning time, they cranked it up and we didn’t match it,” Johnson said. “That’s what we tried to ask. Why didn’t we match it? Because you matched it for 20 with effort [on] both sides of the ball. The last 20 the competition picked up and we didn’t meet it. That’s a problem. We can’t be like that.”

Their next game comes Monday; the Gophers flew straight from Madison to play at Maryland. A long flight gave them time for more self-reflection.

Johnson is waiting to see whether his players take ownership of the season.

“Good practices. They got to translate,” he said. “Good team meeting. That’s got to translate. That’s the challenge. It’s not about, ‘You had the long powwow.’ It’s about, ‘OK, we play Maryland. Is there going to be a significant difference?’ ”