Reusse: Amid a gathering of alumni, Gophers sink to a bad foe’s level in men’s basketball

The Gophers took the court on Saturday as the Big Ten’s newly crowned champions of the California region in men’s basketball. They had defeated Southern Cal and UCLA over a four-day period, even though they only led for a combined 3:38 of the 80 minutes played.

The only previous team to complete the sweep on a Los Angeles visit was Michigan, and with the Gophers having defeated the Wolverines 84-81 in overtime Jan. 16 in their only meeting of the regular season … no doubt about it.

We are the California champions!

That’s a stretch, you’d say? OK, and a stretch of reality is what’s needed to put a spin on this talent-challenged Gophers team that was slapped together after last spring’s defection of five solid players with eligibility remaining.

One was from freshman Cam Christie, for the second round of the NBA draft, and the other handful departed in the pursuit of dollars in what Gophers hoops followers should term NID — Name, Image and Don’t-like-it.

Saturday’s opponent was Penn State, a team that had charged to the bottom of the Big Ten by losing 11 of 12 from Jan. 5 to Feb. 15. Except, the idea this might be a Williams Arena walkover for the Gophers had two flaws:

One, Penn State had regained 7-foot center Yanic Niederhauser and put a 17-point thumping on Fred Hoiberg’s so-so Nebraska team Wednesday; and two, on the wrong day, this Gophers team has the talent to lose to any team — including North Texas.

This was Alumni Day, and there was an OK turnout of excellent old Gophers, such as Willie Burton, Andre Hollins and Jim Petersen. To honor these proud predecessors, the Gophers came out and offered up almost six good minutes.

Mike Mitchell Jr. made a couple of threes, Dawson Garcia one, and when freshman Isaac Asuma followed his miss with a rebound and layup, it was 17-10 and the fairly large matinee crowd was offering up some robust cheers.

Over the next 34 minutes of stumbling and bumbling for the home team, it was pretty much groans of agony. Final: Penn State 69, Gophers 60.

Postgame, coach Ben Johnson talked of the Gophers not bringing the effort and the aggressiveness witnessed in the Los Angeles split doubleheader.

Ben’s the coach. He has to say that. He can’t come out and say, “They ate our late lunch,” which was what happened in a view from the back of the lower deck.

From there, Penn State spent all afternoon standing strong defensively 25 feet from the basket and the Gophers had no ability to get through that.

The Gophers led 35-33 after Garcia (greatness at UCLA; a woeful 3-for-16 Saturday) scored with 16:55 left. When the Gophers next scored, on a bucket by Mitchell, there was 10:33 left and Penn State led 46-37.

Nine straight misses, three being blocked. Six-plus minutes as bad as a Big Ten team can offer, and it sealed a loss to put the Gophers back at 6-10 — and again a candidate to miss the 15-team conference tournament.

It was an embarrassing display to be witnessed by the alums. Worse yet, it was not the proper manner in which to honor Louise Quam, a Gophers season-ticket holder since 1950. Louise was a sophomore at Murray High School in St. Paul and was moved to buy one season ticket a few rows up at midcourt to watch the Gophers.

“I was young and had a crush on the basketball players,” Louise told me at halftime, and family members suggested star guard Whitey Skoog was No. 1 on that list.

Quam was escorted onto the elevated court before Saturday’s game and honored as the longest-ever season-ticket holder: 75 years.

Louise’s husband, John, was the odd combination of a Lutheran pastor and a basketball referee. While living in Marshall, Minn., the Quams were backdoor neighbors to Terry Porter, a star on the 1963 one-class state champions.

“They were the greatest people,” Porter said by phone Saturday. “Louise is still going to Gophers games? That’s fantastic.”

Louise met her husband when they were college students at St. Olaf. For years, as John refereed, Louise would drive to Gophers games — three hours from Marshall to Williams Arena; later, five hours from Manchester, Iowa.

When they retired in Northfield 25 years ago, they bought an adjacent second ticket. John died in 2023. Louise, 90, is now living in a senior apartment in the Twin Cities. Still in the same seat; still cheering and wincing.

Louise Quam deserved better from her Gophers on Saturday, but in 75 years she’s probably seen worse a handful of times.