Gophers overcome slow start behind Dawson Garcia, Brennan Rigsby to rally past Penn State

Forget about how it might have looked to fans at Bryce Jordan Center, Gophers men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson loved seeing his players celebrate on the court after Tuesday night’s comeback at Penn State.

A recent three-game win streak seemed almost forgotten after the Gophers fell to last-place Washington at home last weekend.

They needed to get the season back going in the right direction after two consecutive losses.

It wasn’t pretty to start, but the Gophers got 19 points and a season-high 14 rebounds from Dawson Garcia and clutch backcourt play in the second half that led to a 69-61 victory against the Nittany Lions in University Park, Pa.

“Every win is meaningful,” Johnson said at the postgame news conference. “I don’t care who you’re playing, what time of year. You can never be too good for any game or any win. Our guys put in so much time and we demand so much from them. So, when they’re able to pull through, they need to celebrate that. They need to feel good.”

BOXSCORE: Gophers 69, Penn State 61

Big Ten standings

The Gophers (12-11, 4-8 Big Ten) used a 26-12 run in the second half to pull away from Penn State with a boost from guards Lu’Cye Patterson and Brennan Rigsby, who combined for 20 of their 28 points in the second half.

Rigsby, who hadn’t scored in four consecutive games in limited playing time, finished with 14 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field in 22 minutes off the bench.

“I just try to stay ready at all points in the game and whenever my name is called,” Rigsby said. “I think that’s when we’re at our best when we have multiple guys getting it going … it’s hard to stop us.”

The Big Ten’s top scorer in league games, Garcia struggled to take advantage of a shorthanded Penn State frontcourt in the first half. The 6-11 senior saw his streak of 20-point games end at seven, but he had 13 points and eight rebounds in the second half.

Penn State was playing without 7-foot starting center Yanic Konan Niederhauser, the Big Ten’s top shot blocker, who was sidelined because of an ankle injury.

But the Nittany Lions (13-10, 3-9) led 25-15 in the first half before the Gophers got a spark from Rigsby, who had an emphatic dunk during a 6-0 run that cut it to a 25-21 halftime deficit.

In last weekend’s 71-68 loss against last-place Washington at home, the Gophers got 28 points from Garcia, but they were severely outplayed in the backcourt.

The same scenario threatened to play out Tuesday when Femi Odukale fouled out with 12:32 to play after getting called for a hold defensively and a technical foul for complaining to officials.

It could have been a potential momentum killer with a one-point game. Penn State went ahead 40-37 on two free throws from D’Marco Dunn, but the Gophers responded in a big way.

Mike Mitchell Jr. hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to give the Gophers their first lead of the second half with just under nine minutes to play.

Patterson’s two free throws and a banked three-pointer from Rigsby then made it a six-point lead. Five minutes later, Rigsby’s second three-pointer extended it to 63-52 with 2:41 remaining.

The Gophers didn’t allow the Nittany Lions to score until nearly 6½ minutes into the game and held them to 34% shooting overall. After a slow start, Johnson’s team outscored Penn State 48-36 in the second half on shooting 69% from the field.

What started as an old-fashioned, low-scoring Big Ten defensive battle ended with a second road win for the Gophers, who have momentum again heading into Saturday’s home game against Illinois.

“We knew this was going to be a tough, tough game,” Johnson said. “They brought the best out of us. What we needed to be.”