Four takeaways from Gophers men's basketball's OT loss to Nebraska

When Dawson Garcia was called for his fifth foul with under two minutes left in overtime, the energy seemed to be sucked out of Williams Arena in Saturday's 81-79 loss against Nebraska.

It was a controversial call. But Garcia's departure didn't mean the Gophers were done in the extra period. They tied the game on Jamison Battle's three-pointer with 1:17 to play but could never retake the lead.

The Gophers (6-8, 0-4 Big Ten) are 3-19 in their last 22 Big Ten regular season games the last two seasons, including eight consecutive losses in league play dating back to last season.

It will only be more difficult to stop the conference slide next Thursday at Ohio State, but second-year coach Ben Johnson said his players won't quit believing they're getting closer to victory.

"Little bit of a broken record," Johnson said. "But they gave themselves a chance to win. That's the good part. Sometimes you don't have that feeling of remorse or feeling bad because you don't have that chance to win."

Here are four takeaways from Saturday's overtime loss against Nebraska:

Garcia's foul trouble

Five times in his career Garcia has fouled out in a game. Three times have come in the five games against Big Ten competition, including against Purdue and Nebraska this season.

Garcia was the catalyst to giving the Gophers the edge in the first half when 15 of his 19 points in the opening period fueled a 10-0 run that gave his team the halftime lead.

His foul trouble in Saturday's loss against the Huskers happened in the blink of an eye. The 6-11 North Carolina transfer had 17 points through about 23 minutes of play. It was arguably his best start to a game this season.

And Garcia then picked up back-to-back fouls in the span of four seconds to force him to sit with three fouls with 17 minutes left in the second half. A seven-point lead a minute earlier for the Gophers turned into them being outscored 16-2 by Nebraska.

Garcia was on pace for possibly a career night, but he was unable to continue his hot start offensively with just two points the rest of the game. He still fought hard on the glass to finish with a career-high 15 rebounds.

The only major conference players to have at least 15 points, 15 rebounds, two three-pointers and three assists in a game this season are Garcia and Iowa's Kris Murray. That shows you how valuable Garcia is to the Gophers, who can't afford for him to be in foul trouble often in Big Ten play.

Limiting turnovers

Johnson's point of emphasis before Saturday's game against Nebraska was to take care of the ball after a season-high 20 turnovers in Tuesday's 63-60 loss at Wisconsin.

The Gophers did exactly that with a season-low seven turnovers, including only one turnover in the first half to lead 39-33. The Gophers were averaging the second most turnovers per game (13.9) in the Big Ten entering Saturday.

One of the most important players for the Gophers on Saturday was senior guard Taurus Samuels, who hit the game-tying three to force overtime with 4.8 seconds left. Samuels finished with a season-high eight points, two assists, and zero turnovers in 32 minutes.

Ta'Lon Cooper and Jamison Battle had six turnovers apiece against the Badgers, but they also limited those careless mistakes against the Huskers with just five combined Saturday.

Nebraska had the same thing in mind. Fred Hoiberg's team was third worst in the Big Ten in turnovers per game (13.0), but the Huskers had 11 turnovers Saturday, including zero in overtime.

Rebounding effort

Part of the reason the Gophers came close to pulling off the upset against the Badgers in Madison earlier in the week was by winning the battle of the boards by 16. Six of the eight players who saw the floor grabbed at least three rebounds, including Battle and Garcia, who tied with a team-high nine rebounds each.

That season-best rebounding effort at Wisconsin didn't carry over team-wise for the Gophers, who were out-rebounded 38-28 by Nebraska. Garcia had 13 defensive rebounds and became the first Gophers player to have 15 boards in a game since Daniel Oturu at Indiana on March 4, 2020.

The problem is Garcia's eight teammates who played Saturday only combined for 13 rebounds. Nebraska almost matched that effort in offensive rebounds with 11, including two by Juwan Gary that led to critical second-chance points at the end of regulation and overtime when the Gophers failed to box out.

Huskers big men Derrick Walker Jr. and Gary combined for 40 points and 14 rebounds, but that included six offensive boards (almost matching Minnesota's entire team).

Freshmen contribution

Saturday's box score states that the Gophers' four freshmen combined for 20 points, which was less than half of their best game offensively together this season (40 points vs. St. Francis Brooklyn).

Joshua Ola-Joseph had 10 of his 12 points in the second half against Nebraska to lead the freshmen, but their impact wasn't just about scoring.

Jaden Henley's aggressiveness attacking the basket gave him a couple baskets during a second-half run, but he also drew defenders away from his teammates. That helped the California native finish with three assists.

Pharrel Payne and Braeden Carrington had their struggles defensively guarding their player, but Payne had three assists and two steals on the day.