28 January 2024
The Gophers men’s basketball team was overmatched in the first half of a Big Ten game — again.
The latest opening chapter of a tired, old story came Saturday when Minnesota fell behind a mediocre Penn State team 45-31 at the break.
The twist was an about-face second-half comeback in an 83-74 win over the Nittany Lions at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa.
The Gophers (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten) have trailed at the half in all nine conference games this season, but they were able to end a four-game losing streak against Penn State (9-11, 3-6). Dawson Garcia led Minnesota with 20 points and Cam Christie had 19.
Minnesota won at Penn State for the first time since 2018.
Minnesota had nearly erased the entire 14-point deficit in less than four minutes at the start of the second half, going on a 15-4 run to make it a one-point deficit at 49-48.
Gophers coach Ben Johnson called a timeout with 1:10 remaining and the Gophers holding a 72-71 lead. Out of the timeout, Mike Mitchell made a driving layup and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but Josh Ola-Joseph got the offensive rebound, finished a layup, was fouled and made the free throw to make it a 77-71 lead.
Gophers starting point guard Elijah Hawkins picked up his third and fourth fouls within one minute and took a seat on the bench with 8:40 left in the game. He returned with six minutes left and fouled out with 1:18 remaining.
In the first half, the Gophers struggled once Hawkins picked up his second foul with 6:49 remaining. With Hawkins relegated to the bench, the Nittany Lions went on a 15-0 run over the next four minutes to lead 45-31 at the half.
Minnesota had seven first-half turnovers and shot 1 for 7 from 3-point range.
Gophers center Pharrel Payne did not play due to his lingering back injury. The U big man has been battling the ailment for a while and was laboring through his 29 minutes in the Wisconsin loss Tuesday.
Without Payne, backup forward Parker Fox stepped up with 11 points, four blocks and three rebounds.