Too much Tre Holloman and three other things learned from Gophers' loss at Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The Gophers men’s basketball team wasn’t a Big Ten title contender, but that’s the way Michigan State coach Tom Izzo prepared to play before Tuesday’s 73-51 Spartans win at Breslin Center.

The Gophers not only had the attention of the Big Ten-leading Spartans with a three-game winning streak, Izzo respected them enough to really have his guard up coaching against Ben Johnson’s squad.

“He got championship prep,” Izzo said. “This game was concerning for us.”

Beating ranked opponents Michigan and Oregon at home. Winning at Iowa for the first time since 2015. That made the Gophers (11-10, 3-7 Big Ten) go from conference bottom-feeder to respectable foe in the span of a couple weeks.

Johnson didn’t know how his Gophers would respond to a little bit of success. The answer was they didn’t know how to face a formidable opponent playing at its best, especially in a hostile road environment.

“No one was going to look past this game,” Johnson said about the No. 7-ranked Spartans. “You could feel their intensity. You could feel how dialed in they were into the physicality defensively to guarding our stuff, to taking guys out of stuff. And then their precision offensively.”

Here are four things learned about the loss in East Lansing:

The Gophers entered Tuesday averaging just nine turnovers during their three-game winning streak, including a Big Ten-low six turnovers in the Jan. 16 overtime win against Michigan.

Facing Michigan State’s pressure defense, the Gophers looked rattled with 11 of their 12 turnovers in the first half, which led to 10 Spartan points.

Minnesota’s defense held up its end for most of the first half, but eventually the careless turnovers and poor shooting (1-for-10 start) were too much to overcome.

“It was a little bit of jolt to our guys,” Johnson said. “For us it kind of snowballed. There was no rhythm that we got into offensively. I didn’t feel like anybody really established themselves or got comfortable.”

The biggest factor in the Gophers' 18-point loss against Michigan State on Dec. 4 at home was allowing the opposing transition to dictate tempo.

Johnson’s Gophers are one of the slowest-paced teams in college basketball. They don’t want to play fast, but Izzo wouldn’t give them a choice.

Michigan State ranked No. 1 nationally with 18.6 points per game on fast breaks through 19 games.

After outscoring the Gophers 27-2 in fast-break points in the first meeting, the Spartans had a 17-3 advantage Tuesday night, including 11 points in the first half.

With Michigan State getting shots before Minnesota’s defense could set up, that led to threes and dunks to get the crowd going. Easy baskets also helped Michigan State overcome a 4-for-15 start shooting in the game.

Izzo talked about his Spartans having strength in numbers to get off to their best start in Big Ten play since 2018-19. Jaden Akins was their only player averaging double figures at 13.8 points per game.

Akins was one of three players in double figures Tuesday, but he finished with just 10 points on 4-for-9 shooting. Xavier Booker had 10 of the team’s 32 bench points. Six players had at least seven points.

Former Cretin-Derham Hall star Tre Holloman had a team-high 12 points. Dawson Garcia led the Gophers with 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting, but no other teammate had double figures. The rest of the Gophers shot 12-for-35 on the night.

“It’s extremely tough when they have the high-caliber players like they do,” Johnson said. “He’s got those guys all on the same page. They’re all connected. You can feel it on the floor.”

As atrocious as the Gophers appeared offensively early, it was only a nine-point game after Garcia’s first two baskets around the four-minute mark in the first half.

Holloman, a junior guard from Minneapolis, wouldn’t allow his hometown team to get any closer to the Spartans. In the span of 2½ minutes, the Gophers were outscored 13-0 with three consecutive three-pointers from Holloman leading the charge. He had all of his points in the first half on 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc in 14 minutes.

“He’s always kind of made big shots against us,” Johnson said. “Those are the gaps that you can’t have on the road against a really good team. If you’ve got it managed, and you’re there at 23 points with two minutes and under, you have got to be able to finish that half.”