A banged-up Gophers basketball squad went toe-to-toe with the Indiana Hoosiers but lost their footing near the end. The 61-57 loss marks Minnesota’s fourth consecutive loss and their twelfth of the season.

The Gophers found themselves down two players before the game started. Forwards Dawson Garcia and Pharrel Payne sat out of Wednesday’s contest due to injuries, according to reporting from the Pioneer Press. Before the game, Garcia led all Gophers in points, averaging 14.9 per game, while both he and Payne held the top two spots in team rebounds (6.3 pg and 4.7 pg, respectively).

The Hoosiers won the tip to start and found Trayce Jackson-Davis swiftly cutting to the basket. Jamison Battle, however, was riding his coattails and reached him in time for a chase-down block.

After a few minutes and a media timeout, Minnesota had time to cool down and focus on keeping the score close. Freshman Jaden Henley, scoping offensive reads at the top of the key, saw his teammate Will Ramberg cut to the basket. Henley passed it and Ramberg got a foul call on a reverse layup, giving the Gophers a 13-12 lead.

Halfway through the first half, the Hoosiers were down by 5 points. Looking for a spark, they went to their star player, Jackson-Davis. He caught a pass in the post, spun and dribbled along the baseline. He contorted his body to put down a reverse dunk, but Treyton Thompson was there to reject it.

“He comes into practice every day, head held high, working his tail off,” Battle said in the post-game press conference. “It’s just a testament to what he’s done to prepare himself for this moment. I’m excited for him.”

Minnesota lost its lead after Thompson’s block and was down 4 points with a minute and 24 seconds to go in the first half. In a hurry, Battle drove into the paint only for Jackson-Davis to deny his layup. The ball went loose and Ramberg, who was behind the two, wrapped his arms around Battle to reach for the offensive rebound. He got two hands on the ball and threw up a circus shot. It miraculously went in and Minnesota was back within one possession at halftime.

Battle’s “attack first” mentality appeared at the start of the second half, this time coming from the defensive side. His steal set up Ta’Lon Cooper to create separation from his defender at the top of the key and drive past for the easy lay-in.

Indiana still held the lead and was not deterred. Jackson-Davis followed Cooper’s bucket with two of his own in 40 seconds. It increased their lead to 7, which prompted Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson to call a timeout.

At this point in the game, Jackson-Davis had 19 points and 15 rebounds. In his previous four games played, he led the Hoosiers in points, rebounds and assists. Two of those games included 30-plus point performances. The junior forward would go on to finish the night with 25 points, 21 rebounds and two assists.

“We weren’t nervous,” Jackson-Davis said when asked about the absence of Indiana head coach Mike Woodson due to a positive COVID-19 test. “We have a great staff. Everyone was locked in and engaged.”

Minnesota freshman Joshua Ola-Joseph’s calf began to cramp about six minutes into the second half. His calf cramped earlier in the first half, but after stretching on the sideline and resting at halftime, he was in to open the second half. However, Johnson decided to pull him from the game, meaning the Gophers were left with six players to compete.

The setback did not affect Battle whatsoever. He swished a trifecta of deep threes to keep Minnesota in contention. On his second make, Williams Arena was overflowing with cheers. So many, in fact, that the Hoosiers called a timeout before attempting their next possession amid vociferous chaos.

Battle’s third three-pointer, possibly his deepest three of the night, came in with just about six minutes left in the game and gave Minnesota a 55-54 lead. Three minutes later, Taurus Samuels hit both of his free throws off an Indiana turnover to increase the lead to 3 points.

It was the last time the Gophers scored for the remainder of the game. Minnesota missed their final 11 shots, while Indiana went on a 7-0 run to close out the game.

Battle led Minnesota in points with 20, the third time he reached that mark this season, along with five rebounds and a pair of blocks and steals. Thompson was the team’s second-leading scorer with eight points and matched that number in rebounds.

“I thought we battled,” Johnson said post-game. “I thought the guys followed the game plan to a tee … I’m really proud of their effort.”

The Gophers’ next matchup will be against the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday. Northwestern currently sits in third place in the Big Ten with an in-conference record of 5-3 and an overall record of 14-5.

The Gophers struggled to make their shots on Saturday against the Purdue Boilermakers and lost by a deficit of nearly 20 points.

Minnesota’s first highlight of the day happened one minute into the game with freshman Mallory Heyer blocking Boilermaker guard Cassidy Hardin’s 3-point shot. Mara Braun grabbed the loose ball, took it down the court and put it through the basket for the game’s first points.

Purdue’s Lasha Petree redeemed Hardin with two 3’s of her own, taking the lead. Minnesota would not hold a lead over Purdue for the remainder of the game.

Minnesota’s Alanna Micheaux struggled early on. After coming off a game where she scored a career-high in points, the sophomore went 0-3 in the first quarter. But she wasn’t the only one who could not get into a rhythm on offense.

Maggie Czinano picked up two fouls in the first half and went 1-4 on the floor. Meanwhile, Isabelle Gradwell came off the bench and gave up the ball on offense twice.

Overall, the Gophers made 29% of their shots in the first half and were out-rebounded 17-23. Purdue took advantage of the offensive inefficiencies, scoring 14 points off of Gopher turnovers and putting them up 44-25 before halftime.

Braun opened up the second half by snagging an offensive rebound off of freshman Amaya Battle’s miss. She dished it back to Battle for another chance at two points. Battle’s second attempt was good and the Gophers trotted back on defense with a pep in their step. The play seemed to have sparked a slight shift in momentum for Minnesota.

Heyer benefitted the most from this shift. The Chaska native knocked down two 3-pointers and helped the Gophers trim the deficit down to a difference of 9 points.

The momentum carried over into the last quarter. It gave Minnesota hope for a comeback. But halfway through the fourth quarter, the continuous pattern of players missing shots and failing to capitalize off of turnovers soon caught up to them.

Petree and Hardin’s 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions dug the Gophers deep into another 15+ point deficit. And with four minutes left in the game, it was too much for the Gophers to recover.

Minnesota finished the 56-75 loss to Purdue shooting 28% from the field, their bench contributing just five of their points. Braun finished as the game’s highest scorer with 15 points, shooting 5-19, while Micheaux pulled down a team-high 15 rebounds in 32 minutes.

The Gophers will host Michigan next on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Minnesota claimed its second conference win of the season after a victory over Penn State on Wednesday. Sophomore forward Alanna Micheaux’s breakout performance helped tip the Gophers’ point margin far enough to avoid another potential overtime conundrum.

Micheaux’s career night began early into the first quarter when she scored the game’s first four points. But soon as the Gophers spread the ball across the floor, finding other points to attack the basket, production on offense started to stall.

It would take nearly four minutes after Micheaux’s fourth point for the Gophers to make their next basket. Luckily, their defensive effort preserved their lead through the first and prevented the slight scoring drought from causing a deficit.

The second quarter resembled the first with minimal scoring and high-level defense. However, the most significant difference came from the Gophers reshaping their offense around a single objective: feeding the ball to Micheaux.

While Minnesota’s guards took a backseat on offense, they worked cohesively to open the paint for Micheaux. She fought for an additional 10 points to close the half with a seven-point lead.

Sophomore Maggie Czinano then opened the second half with a quick bucket, giving Minnesota their largest lead of the night. But Penn State’s Shay Ciezki swiftly responded with a layup of her own and a three-ball that followed her teammate Makenna Marisa’s.

Penn State’s quick burst on offense shifted the script of the game. Both teams battled back and forth, trading possession of the lead until the final seconds of the third quarter.

With the score tied at 48 and Penn State making it increasingly difficult for Micheaux to find a quality shot, Minnesota needed to take a new approach offensively.

Penn State had shifted their defensive focus toward eliminating Micheaux. This let Amaya Battle find other bigs in the paint and left open shots for Mara Braun throughout the game.

Initially, Braun had a tough time finding the mark. But late into the game, when it mattered the most, she stepped up.

Her jumper with four minutes left in the game pushed Minnesota to a three-possession lead. And when Penn State attempted to make a last-minute comeback by fouling, Braun cashed in all six of her free throws, pushing the final score to 75-67.

Micheaux finished with a career-high 31 points and tied her career-high in rebounds, a personal record she broke in her previous game, with 14.

The team will travel to West Lafayette, Indiana, to take on the 12-6 Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Minnesota’s defense fell apart in Thursday’s home game against Michigan. The Wolverines finished with 90 points, the most the Gophers have allowed under head coach Ben Johnson.

Wolverines center Hunter Dickinson scored more than anyone else on the floor. His 19-point night started with the game’s first couple of points via free throws. A three-pointer followed shortly after and Michigan’s explosive offensive night was underway.

Nearing halfway into the first half, Michigan’s lead began to climb. They went on a 13-2 run in less than three minutes and made seven shots in a row. With nine minutes to go, Minnesota was down by more than twenty points.

“The biggest thing to me was just disappointment,” Johnson said in the post-game press conference. “That’s not how we practiced the last two days, so I gotta figure out how we can translate how we practiced to how we play.’

Despite how bleak the game looked for the Gophers early on, Pharrel Payne and Ta’Lon Cooper were diamonds playing through a situational rough. Payne shut down Michigan’s hot streak after a devastating two-handed block and a one-handed swat on their next possession. Cooper knocked down a three-pointer with a minute to go to cap off a 10-0 run, shrinking Michigan’s lead to 13.

Cooper ended as Minnesota’s highest scorer and assist maker with 16 points and five assists. He was, by far, the team’s most efficient player. He complemented his 25.3% usage rate by making two of three three-point attempts and a 60 true shooting percentage. He was the only Gopher in the positives in net points (points produced minus points allowed).

Michigan led Minnesota at halftime 47-31. The Gophers had played down for the entire game up to this point, trying to catch up to what was now a 16-point lead at the half.

“You put yourself in a hole like that and then you’re trying the entire game to just get back into the game,” Johnson said. “It takes too much energy to win.”

Not only did Michigan’s lead grow in the next half, it doubled. Johnson’s squad was down 32 points with eight minutes and 24 seconds of basketball remaining.

It started similarly to the first half; however this time, it was Wolverines guard Dug McDaniel hitting the three to initiate the run. He led his team in points up until Michigan’s lead shrunk to 20.

Minnesota’s scoring run late in the game, shepherded by Payne’s 13 second-half points, made the team’s production look better than their overall performance. He closed out the game with a two-handed slam, pushing the final score to 75-90.

“When you look back on this, it was, I don’t want to say young, but inexperienced mistakes,” Johnson said. “You can’t have that, they absolutely crush you.”

The Gophers will attempt to rebound from their soul-crushing loss on Sunday when they host Associated Press’ 23rd-ranked Mississippi State. Johnson is 0-7 in games against ranked teams as head coach.

The Minnesota Gophers are now 5-4 following their loss on Wednesday to the Kentucky Wildcats (7-1). All but two of Minnesota’s 74 points came from their starters: Amaya Battle, Katie Borowicz, Mara Braun, Alanna Micheaux and Mallory Heyer.

A quick bucket from Battle after the tip-off kickstarted a successful run, which turned into an 11-4 lead, but Kentucky’s defense applied the pressure when the game started to slow down.

Kentucky’s face-guarding defensive scheme had the Gophers rattled as they handled the ball up the court. This turned into nine Minnesota turnovers in the first quarter. They tacked on an additional 12 points off those turnovers and shifted the momentum and lead in their favor.

Minnesota’s pattern of turning hot and then going cold continued into the second quarter. Braun and Borowicz hit back-to-back three-pointers to close Kentucky’s lead to two with seven minutes left.

The Gophers then shot 0-6 from the field proceeding the threes, while Wildcat forwards found no trouble overpowering their counterparts and getting the ball into the basket.

Micheaux’s second-quarter performance drastically changed from the first quarter. She went 4-5 from the field, scored eight points and pulled down three rebounds in the first quarter but went scoreless and rebound-less in the second.

With Kentucky claiming the paint, Minnesota had no choice but to trust Braun’s range from deep to keep competing. Her last-minute three-pointer ended the Gophers’ scoring in the first half, but the team was still down by two.

She turned the deficit into a tie eight seconds into the third quarter after she was fouled while shooting. Kentucky guard Robyn Benton followed it up with a smooth jumper to reclaim the lead.

Benton, who missed all three of her shots in the first half, scored more than half of Kentucky’s third-quarter points. On top of that, she snuck in two steals and an assist. It seemed as if it was her against the entire Minnesota roster for a majority of the quarter, a battle in which Benton claimed victory. Her performance helped the Wildcats move their lead up to five heading into the last quarter.

With the Gophers down 59-64, they looked to the perimeter for help, and out on the perimeter was Heyer, Minnesota’s most efficient three-point shooter of the year.

Heading into the fourth quarter, she sat for only three minutes. She showed no signs of fatigue and even began contributing more offensively. She cashed in from the three-point range once in the first few minutes, another with four minutes to go and her last in the final minutes to take Kentucky’s lead to just two possessions.

Down two with under a minute to go in the game, Micheaux was fouled hard driving into the paint for a layup. She limped to the free throw line and took her time to line up. The Barn silenced itself to help her focus, but it was not enough. She missed both and the Gophers’ attempt to foul their way back into the game failed.

Minnesota as a team made 54.5% of their free throws. Borowicz was honest about the struggles after the game.

“It’s the ups and downs of the game. We’re great basketball players, we gotta figure it out ourselves,” Borowicz said. “Some games you are going to have better free throws than others. This just wasn’t our night.”

Minnesota’s next opponent is the Iowa Hawkeyes, led by one of the nation’s most popular collegiate players, Caitlin Clark. The game will be held on Saturday at 8 p.m. in Iowa City.

Over the years, Minnesota has become known for its budding basketball culture and its charismatic players. Iconic teams such as the 2003-04 Golden Gophers and the Minnesota Lynx throughout the 2010s started the state’s cultural roots of inspiration and success that helped the future generation of female athletes blossom.

As a Minneapolis native and coach for the Gophers, Rachel Banham is in a unique position to directly cultivate the next generation.

The WNBA player’s talent on the court cemented her role model status for hoopers. Now, she is expanding her influence into the world of media.

She is the host of “Gold Blooded,” Minnesota women’s basketball’s newest podcast. It highlights notable members of the team throughout their season, twice a week. Topics span from typical basketball talk to odd superstitions, all of which showcase the personalities that make the sport so special.

“You’re able to see these women off the court and who they are as humans,” Banham said. “And when young girls watch and listen to it, they get to hear that this could be them. They get to hear themselves in these women that are here playing hoops.”

Professional players, current or former, participating in media is a popular movement across all media. Hearing the voices of those who have been on the court provides listeners with different and more interactive perspectives.

Banham began her media journey last season. She was brought on by the Big Ten Network to broadcast a contest between Rutgers and the Gophers. Not only did this prepare her for the podcasting gig, but it’s a big reason why she was selected to be the host, according to Minnesota’s sports information director Trenten Gauthier.

“Trenten had called me and mentioned that he wanted me to be the host,” Banham said. “The plan was to interview the girls, coaches, whoever. And he said, ‘How do you feel about that? Are you comfortable?’ And I was like, ‘absolutely! It’ll be hilarious.’”

Compared to the players sitting at a table in a press conference room, Gauthier explained the podcast “gives [them] more of a platform and a new way to talk about things” that occur on and off the court.

“I already love this team so much, and I feel like I’ve gotten to know them in such a short time,” Banham said. “But this is an even better way to get to know everybody.”

Banham had appeared in Minnesota’s practices in prior years to meet the athletes. With this season’s heavy roster turnover, she’s using the podcast as a new outlet to learn about the current talent.

Personal conversations that can get a little weird

Since she’s a coach first, the show starts on the topic of team performance and ways to improve. But when she asks questions that are not related to basketball, it opens the floor up for her guests to be as weird as possible.

“You can really feel our personalities more because we’re so comfortable talking with each other,” Katie Borowicz said.

They mutually accept each other’s weirdness, but sometimes, it goes too far. The look of horror on Maggie Czinano and Banham’s faces when Borowicz tries to explain her pregame superstition made for a laughable moment, but it also encapsulated what the podcast is all about.

“It’s important to have Rachel talk to us as [herself and] having somebody who we all have idolized be able to get involved,” said Czinano.

The conversation with the young set of players was fun and filled with nuggets of basketball tips or personality quirks. Banham said she wishes when people listen to the podcast, they realize how amazing it is to be a part of women’s basketball, especially in Minneapolis.

“You’re not really able to get that personal experience all the time just coming to our game. So I hope the fans can see how much we appreciate them and that we want them to get to know us better,” Banham said. “Having more visibility, more information, like this helps grow the game.”

You can watch and listen to the latest “Gold Blooded” episode on the Minnesota women’s basketball page. The first-ever episode, featuring Borowicz and Czinano, can be found on the website and YouTube.

Minnesota women’s basketball went 1-1 in Virginia’s 36th Cavalier Classic Tournament on Saturday and Sunday. Although growing pains were visible, the freshmen continued to provide for a majority of the team’s production. Their performance moved them to 4-2 on the season.

Nov. 26 vs. Virginia

The game began with both teams slowly exchanging buckets. It wasn’t until Big Ten’s freshman of the week Mallory Heyer knocked down a three that the Gophers’ lead lifted beyond one possession.

Interior defensive help from Alanna Micheaux and Heyer limited Virginia’s scoring and kept the Gophers’ lead throughout the first quarter. Their presence around the basket forced the Cavs to shoot 29% from the field and miss multiple layups.

However, Minnesota did not maintain the momentum for long. Virginia made the first basket of the second quarter and did not let up, scoring an unanswered 13 points through six minutes.

In an attempt to turn things around, the Gophers rushed themselves into turning the ball over nine times. The Cavs scored 14 points off of said turnovers and reclaimed the lead by the end of the first half with a score of 22-10

Scoring in the second half was consolidated to mostly one player on each side: Mara Braun with 20 points for the Gophers, and Camryn Taylor with 14 for the Cavs. Sixteen of Braun’s 20 points came from her last-minute efforts in the fourth quarter.

And in possessions where she wasn’t busy hitting her shots, guard Amaya Battle created opportunities elsewhere, directing the offense at the top of the key and snagging offensive boards. She finished the game with 10 rebounds and six assists, and she tied the team-high in plus-minus with +8.

Their impact carried over into the final moments and was the foundation of the Gophers’ impressive comeback.

With less than a minute to go, Heyer grabbed Braun’s miss and kicked it back out to Katie Borowicz, who made the three to put them behind by one point. But when the Gophers went back to Borowicz on the next possession, the Cavs’ Taylor stole the ball and, along with it, Minnesota’s chances of winning. Virginia closed the game out with a couple of free throws, pushing the final score to 70-73.

Nov. 27 vs. Liberty

Minnesota’s win over Liberty on Sunday included one of their best defensive performances from start to finish. Liberty shot 38.7% from the field and a season-low 11.1% from the three-point range.

Borowicz’s play was fundamental in achieving this feat. She debilitated Liberty’s backcourt with her scrappy prowess around the perimeter, racking up five steals and a block.

On offense, she started hot by getting involved in Minnesota’s first seven points of the game. Her efforts, however, were not enough to build a strong lead. The Gophers led 16-15 at the end of the first quarter.

Her hot hand went well into the second quarter. And yet again, she was heavily involved in the offense early on. This time contributing to Minnesota’s first 12 points of the quarter.

Despite this, Liberty remained unphased because their center Mya Berkman had been performing just as well. She accumulated nine points and five rebounds in the second quarter to help Liberty restrain Minnesota’s lead from getting too out of reach.

The shootout between Borowicz and Berkman continued into the second half. But it was Minnesota’s inclusion of Battle in their offense that dictated the direction and, eventually, the conclusion of the game.

She provided scoring support for Borowicz’s career night and included flashes of playmaking, opening the paint for Heyer and other Gopher forwards to enter and bring in offensive rebounds.

Holding onto a double-digit lead with two minutes left, the Gophers coasted on conservative play calls for the rest of the game. Minnesota won 77-65, with Borowicz finishing with 21 points and going 9 for 11 from the field.

The Minnesota Gophers survive in a last-second fashion against the Wisconsin Badgers, winning Saturday’s game 23-16. Their all-time record against the Badgers has now improved to 62-62-8.

With as much of a toss up the series has been, the Gophers lost Saturday’s coin toss to the Badgers. Wisconsin then elected to receive the opening kick.

On the game’s first drive, the Gophers put an emphasis on scoring first and were successful through a couple boot actions. Gophers defensive backs stepped up as the Badgers approached the red zone and made them settle for a field goal.

Athan Kaliakmanis led Minnesota’s first offensive drive with veteran-like composure. His first pass was to the tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford for 14 yards and his 23-yard rush off a quarterback option followed. This set up a quick throw to Daniel Jackson for the touchdown.

Wisconsin failed to continue the scoring volley and gave the ball back to Minnesota after three plays. Kaliakmanis opened the offense’s second drive with a 42-yard bomb to receiver Dylan Wright, who caught it over the head of his defender.

A string of short plays brought the Gophers to a fourth and short situation. Head coach P.J. Fleck took the first quarter break to think about his options. He decided to go for it via quarterback sneak, but the Badgers plugged the middle and made the stop.

Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz redeemed the previous drive by exploiting Minnesota’s blown coverages on third down, taking them into Minnesota territory. Wisconsin concluded the drive with another field goal, making it a one point game.

The two teams traded punts and the Gophers got the ball with just over two minutes left in the second quarter. Kaliakmanis found himself in some trouble after taking an 8-yard sack, but his pass to Jackson revived the offense and Minnesota was able to close out the half with a field goal.

Jackson, along with Wright and Spann-Ford, compiled for one of Minnesota’s best receiving games. They accounted for 267 of Kaliakmanis’ 319 passing yards and were targeted in all but three of his passes.

Minnesota opened the second half with an eight play sequence that led to Matthew Trickett’s second field goal, putting them up 13-6. Spann-Ford was used in two of the eight plays, one of them including a clean hurdle over a tackler to keep Minnesota in scoring range.

The Badgers responded with a quick drive of their own. In less than three minutes, Mertz completed back-to-back passes which put Wisconsin in the red zone. He then lost his touch on his ball placement and overthrew his targets on both second and third down. Their subsequent field goal made it a four-point game.

In their next offensive outing, Wisconsin misdirected the Gophers defense twice, once on a 28-yard play action and the other on a reverse that was taken in for six. That touchdown would be their last points scored in the game.

With the Gophers now trailing, the defense took it upon themselves to help the offense win the game. They forced three straight three-and-outs and two turnovers on Wisconsin’s final five drives.

The Gophers put the game in the hands of their redshirt freshman quarterback, and he delivered. Down three, Kaliakmanis was given the green light to continue launching passes deep, an opportunity which Jackson and Le’Meke Brockington benefited from the most.

Jackson made a terrific sideline catch in the fourth quarter that quieted the fans in Camp Randall. His catch set Minnesota up for a field goal to tie the game.

Brockington took a well-placed ball down the middle of the field from Kaliakmanis, sprinted past the secondary and scored. After Trickett’s extra point, the Gophers held a 23-16 lead with just under four minutes to go.

Wisconsin’s first two plays in response to the touchdown only gathered them five yards. On third down, Mertz tested his luck by going deep but was intercepted by Gophers cornerback Justin Walley.

The Gophers offense began to take a more conservative approach in an attempt to run out the remaining time on the clock. The plan backfield and so did their subsequent field goal attempt, placing the Badgers on their own 38 yard line.

Mertz dialed up an 11-yard pass and a 2-yard scramble before getting injured. His backup, Chase Wolf, replaced him for the rest of the game. Wisconsin’s next four plays, which included a pass interference call on Walley, put them five yards away from tying the game.

Despite all the momentum they had to punch it in, their offense collapsed. Wisconsin committed four penalties in a five play span. The Gophers defense stood by and watched the ref move the ball back to the 30. After Wolf’s final throw fell incomplete, the Gophers brought out the ax, headed toward the goalpost and pretended to chop it down in celebration.

The Minnesota Gophers finished the regular season with an 8-4 record and placed fourth in the Big Ten West. This is the first time Minnesota beat Wisconsin in back-to-back games since 1993 and 1994.

Although Mohamed Ibrahim had an unusually quiet game (70 yards on 27 carries), his collected numbers on the season have put him on top of a majority of school rushing records. Kaliakmanis performance earned him his first road win as a starter and solidified his future as the team’s starting quarterback going forward.

Minnesota men’s basketball added their third win of the season after beating Central Michigan. Thursday’s win marks the end of their opening series at home, and they will not play in Williams Arena again until early December.

The first half started with the Gophers winning the tip-off and after two failed offensive possessions, Jaden Henley cashed in the first point of the game via a free throw.

Starting center Treyton Thompson had a few solid plays three minutes into the game, including a block, a converted “and one” attempt and a three-pointer. He would play for only five more minutes in the first half but managed to lead the team in points with six. His series of scoring put the Gophers up 10 points, but a Central Michigan layup sandwiched between two three-pointers closed the difference to just two.

Central Michigan’s Kevin Miller took notice when Minnesota started to slow down near the midpoint of the first half. Players struggled to defend the speedy guard on both sides of the court as he blew past defenders with ease.

Both teams continued to trade buckets on offense. But with about six minutes left in the half, a recent transfer and Minneapolis native Braeden Carrington subbed in for Henley and hit a three. It was his first made FG as a Gopher, providing enough cushion for them to maintain a safe lead.

“We knew they were going to make a run,” head coach Ben Johnson said. “But [they were] staying focused, staying locked in, no mental errors.” Johnson told his players if they “consumed [themselves] with guarding, everything [would] take care of itself.”

His motives on defense worked. The rest of Central Michigan’s squad could not get into an offensive rhythm. Outside of Miller, players scored 11 points off of 23 shots.

Coming out of halftime, they regained their 10-point lead after a Thompson put-back dunk and a Henley three. This opened up Dawson Garcia’s game and allowed him to recover from his unusually quiet first half. He began to reclaim his role on offense after scoring on back-to-back possessions, putting the Gophers up 41-28.

As the deficit grew, Central Michigan’s offense could not find a solution to Minnesota’s zone defense. They went one for 15 from the field nine minutes into the second half and committed five turnovers throughout the time remaining.

One of their turnovers resulted in a fast break dunk by Joshua Ola-Joseph, assisted by Ta’Lon Cooper, which gave Minnesota all the momentum they needed to put the game away.

Cooper’s ability to facilitate in every in-game situation has been pivotal for the Gophers early on. So far, he has led the team in assists in all four games this season, including eight on Thursday, and looks for the foul whenever he drives. His five made free throws, along with Garcia’s four and Carrington’s three, kept the Gophers’ lead in check as they cruised the rest of the way to victory.

Minnesota’s next game will be against 3-1 California Baptist in the SoCal Challenge, a west coast basketball tournament located in San Juan Capistrano. The road trip lasts through November and ends on Dec. 8, when they host the Michigan Wolverines.

The Minnesota men’s basketball team went 1-1 after games against St. Francis Brooklyn on Friday and DePaul on Monday.

Freshman Frenzy Friday

On Friday, Gophers basketball joined the litany of successful collegiate contests at Minnesota after beating St. Francis Brooklyn 72-54. Four Gophers scored double-digit points, three of them freshmen.

The game started with St. Francis Brooklyn running a full-court press, putting the Gophers on their toes. With the help of forwards Pharrel Payne and Joshua Ola-Joseph, the Gophers offset their constant pressure and attacked the paint.

Payne used his 6-foot-9 frame to dominate underneath the hoop. His and his teammates’ presence forced St. Francis to a FG% of 41. He went 3-for-3 from the field, pulled down four rebounds and found Ola-Joseph, who led the team in points for the first half, off a backdoor cut for a highlight play.

By halftime, Minnesota led 37-28.

Freshman guard Jaden Henley and recent transfer Dawson Garcia initiated the second half with four quick points each. Head coach Ben Johnson recognized Henley had the hot hand and gave him the green light for the rest of the game.

“You could look at the Big Ten with the amount of freshmen that we’re playing,” Johnson said after the game. “But it’s an opportunity for other guys to get reps, to maximize those reps.”

Henley finished with a team-high of 16 points; a quarter of those points came from free throws.

In likeness to the football team, Minnesota’s defense provided stability to their lead throughout the final minutes. They eliminated St. Francis’s long ball (25% from three-point range) and out-rebounded them by 10 points.

All in all, it was the young core’s relentless energy that contributed the most to the team’s 18-point win.

The Monday blues

Whether it was the snow or DePaul’s defense, Minnesota was cold on Monday. The Gophers shot 33% from the field and 25% from three in their 53-69 loss to the Blue Devils.

Both teams started the day exchanging hard-earned baskets. The two would go back and forth until halfway through the first half, when DePaul shut the Gophers’ offense down for seven consecutive minutes.

During this duration, DePaul tacked on 10 unanswered points to take the lead, a lead they did not give up for the remainder of the game.

Despite the poor shooting performance overall, Payne persevered. The freshman has missed one shot all season and did not miss in the previous game. Monday, he shot perfectly from the field again and was responsible for 10 of Minnesota’s 22 points at the half.

On the other side, the speed of DePaul guards Javan Johnson and Umoja Gibson troubled the Gophers all night. By using their speed, they swiftly cut past their defenders and drove to the basket. Most of the time, it resulted in a quick bucket, as help from other Gopher defenders came in too late. The backcourt duo combined for 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the first half.

After the halftime break, it seemed as if Minnesota forgot about their shooting woes and began to pick up the pace. Garcia and Ta’Lon Cooper started the offense off with two three-pointers, followed by a four-minute scoring run that cut the deficit to nine.

Fans at the Barn erupted in cheers, but the positivity wasn’t enough for them to climb out of the hole dug in the first half. DePaul continued to attack the boards on offense, allowing them a second chance to tack on a few more points. This proved to be the difference maker as Minnesota failed to complete the comeback and slowly fell back into a deficit until the clock hit zero.

The loss moves them to 2-1 on the season. They will look to keep their record above five hundred when they face Central Michigan at home on Thursday at 8 p.m.