Gophers men’s basketball team is blown out by Wisconsin, falls to 0-5 in Big Ten

MADISON, WIS. – Ben Johnson and Greg Gard were in the same spot in the Big Ten men’s basketball standings after their Gophers and Wisconsin teams played their first two league games in early December.

Both teams started at the bottom of the Big Ten with 0-2 league records.

Since then, the Gophers remain the only winless team in the Big Ten and have struggled to be competitive in one of the toughest conferences in the nation.

A tight game in the first half became an offensive barrage the Gophers couldn’t match in their fifth consecutive Big Ten loss, 80-59 to rival Wisconsin on Friday night at the Kohl Center.

After the Gophers met for more than an hour in the locker room following another deflating loss, Johnson said his players did most of the talking about the lack of fight after halftime.

“I didn’t really say anything,” said Johnson, who missed the postgame news conference and radio show. “It was positive and nothing negative. The good part about it was I didn’t really start it. Guys you could tell are trying to figure out why one 20 minutes looks a certain way and another 20 minutes looks completely different and all the things that go into that.”

In four of their five conference losses, the Gophers (8-8, 0-5) have been outscored by an average margin of nearly 19 points. Purdue, Michigan State and Indiana were the others to rout the Gophers.

“They want to win and they’re competitive and searching for answers,” Johnson said. “This is the fifth game. What do we have to do to be more competitive when it matters?”

The Border Battle has been one-sided lately with eight straight wins by the Badgers (13-3, 3-2), but this was the first time in years the Gophers were dominated. It was Minnesota’s worst loss to the Badgers since losing 83-57 in 2014.

The first five losses by the Gophers against Wisconsin in Johnson’s coaching tenure were by six points or fewer, including a 61-59 loss last season at Williams Arena.

The Badgers led 30-29 to start the second half, but they used a 40-12 run to blow the game wide open. They led by as much as 30 points in the second half.

“We can’t have a last 20 minutes like that,” said Gophers senior forward Dawson Garcia, who finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. “There’s got to be a pressure that you’ve got to win. And you got to be able to deal with that pressure. There’s no excuse but to win.”

The Gophers jumped to a 15-5 lead Friday behind Garcia’s hot start. He scored more points in the first five minutes (seven) than he did before fouling out in Monday’s 89-88 double-overtime loss against Ohio State (five). Garcia scored 14 points in the first half but finished as the only Gophers player in double figures.

Wisconsin scored 19 points off 15 Gophers turnovers, including nine points off eight turnovers in the first half. That was the difference after the Badgers were held to 32% shooting through the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, the Gophers cut a 10-point deficit to 45-39 on Lu’Cye Patterson’s basket around the 14-minute mark, but they got no closer. John Tonje’s three-point play and Steven Crowl’s three-pointer sparked a 25-4 run that again stretched the margin to double figures.

Crowl, a former Eastview standout, had 18 points to lead the Badgers, who shot 58% in the second half.

The Gophers play the Badgers again on March 5 at Williams Arena in their second-to-last regular-season game. But they will be in desperation mode to turn around their season before that. Next up is another road game; they will fly straight from Madison to play at Maryland on Monday.

“Second half, we didn’t come out with the same urgency and same want as we had in the first half,” senior Femi Odukale said. “I think we should be better.”