Gophers men’s basketball team slips away from Cleveland State

Don’t be fooled by the Gophers men’s basketball team having the Big Ten’s scoring leader on the roster. Offense is not what this squad is known for.

Entering Tuesday, Dawson Garcia averaged a Big Ten-high 25.5 points per game. He was the first Gophers player to score 20-plus points in four straight games since former All-America Daniel Oturu in 2020.

The Gophers found out what life was like without Garcia getting buckets at will on Tuesday, but Parker Fox scored a career-high 18 points and the Gophers played stout defense with the same lineup for the last 15-plus minutes in a 58-47 victory against Cleveland State.

“Obviously, we know he’s going to be the focal point,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson said about Garcia, who was held to 13 points. “Other guys do have to step up. You’ve got to take some pressure off of him a little bit.”

The Williams Arena crowd groaned every time the Gophers (4-1) missed shots early, but it wasn’t nearly as rough as their 14-point first half in the 54-51 loss against North Texas on Nov. 13.

Fox, who hadn’t made a three-pointer since before his knee injuries in 2021 at Division II Northern State, drilled a 35-footer at the buzzer for a 31-29 halftime lead. That gave his team much-needed momentum and ended a three-game stretch during which the Gophers trailed at halftime.

“We’ll take anyone we can get,” the 6-8 senior from Mahtomedi said. “I just caught it with confidence and put it in. Tried to bring that energy down into the locker room. We always try to talk before Coach comes in. It was really just about who we want to be as a team. What do we want our identity to be?”

The Gophers are far from an offensive juggernaut, so they’ve adopted a defensive identity.

They ranked last among Big Ten teams in scoring offense (64.5) through four games, but they allowed the Big Ten’s second-fewest points per game (57.8).

Brennan Rigsby scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half Tuesday for the Gophers, who held the Vikings to 26% shooting in the second half, including 2-for-13 from three.

Minnesota’s starters are Garcia, Rigsby, Femi Odukale, Lu’Cye Patterson and Frank Mitchell, but Johnson went with Fox instead of Mitchell and freshman Isaac Asuma instead of Patterson for the last 15:12 of the game.

The game plan was risky without a veteran like Patterson at guard, but Asuma finished with a season-high 10 points and zero turnovers in 30 minutes.

What the Gophers lacked in scoring punch they made up for with defense. Odukale had the most unusual stat line with two points, six turnovers, 12 rebounds, three steals and three blocks.

“I feel like we kind of got it rolling a little,” Rigsby said. “I think the big thing is we were getting a lot of stops and our matchups were better.”

Fox had the second-highest field-goal percentage (68.3%) in team history last season, but he hadn’t looked to score much recently. He attempted just four field goals in the previous three games, including no shots against North Texas.

After last Saturday’s 59-56 victory against Yale, Johnson went so far as to call some players “soft” offensively, which was in contrast to how physically they play defensively.

In the second half Tuesday, Garcia finally got a couple of shots to fall during an 11-3 run that led to a 50-42 lead.

After the margin was cut to three points late, the Gophers kept Cleveland State scoreless in the last 3:52 with that lineup with Fox and Asuma and without two starters.

“We weren’t able to kind of impose our will,” Johnson said. “So, in games like that, I’m going with the crew who has got it going.”