Ben Johnson could have done an impression of former Vikings coach Denny Green after Indiana State ended the Gophers men’s basketball team’s season Sunday in the second round of the NIT.
Gophers bow out of NIT with 76-64 loss to top-seeded Indiana State
The Sycamores wore down the shorthanded Gophers, who were hampered by Elijah Hawkins’ hip injury.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 25, 2024 at 12:29PM
The Sycamores are who the Gophers thought they were. Very, very good.
They could score, pass and defend. They had depth. They looked like perhaps the best team in the country not playing in the NCAA tournament in defeating the Gophers 76-64 on Sunday in front of a sellout crowd at Hulman Center in Terre Haute, Ind.
Pharrel Payne scored a team-high 16 points to go with eight rebounds, but the Gophers (19-15) committed 15 turnovers and couldn’t overcome point guard Elijah Hawkins’ hip injury.
“Tough way to go out,” Johnson, the Gophers coach, said after the game. “You can’t let one game dictate how we were for the course of the year.”
The hero for the Gophers in the NIT’s first round was Hawkins with 15 assists and two game-winning free throws in a 73-72 win at Butler on Tuesday night. His day ended early against Indiana State with 10 points and one assist in 21 minutes.
In the first half, Hawkins ran into an Indiana State player battling for a rebound. He left the game grimacing and followed the team trainer into the locker room. He played only five minutes in the second half.
“He just had too much pain,” Johnson said. “In a game like this that’s really physical, you got to have everything and be able to move. He just couldn’t go. Credit to him for trying.”
The wheels fell off early for Johnson’s squad when leading scorer Dawson Garcia left the game with three fouls and three turnovers after picking up a technical midway into the first half.
Garcia, an All-Big Ten forward, scored 25 points at Butler, but he finished with only six to go with 12 rebounds on Sunday in 28 minutes.
The Sycamores (30-6), the Missouri Valley regular-season champions, led by 18 points in the first half and 38-28 at halftime after limiting Minnesota to 39% shooting and forcing nine turnovers. Ryan Conwell had 14 of his 23 points on 4-for-4 shooting from three-point range in the first half.
An 11-0 run for the Gophers in the second half made it 52-49 after Cam Christie’s jumper with 11:46 remaining. Garcia also scored his first points of the game during that rally, on free throws.
With four minutes left, the Gophers trailed 68-59 but threw the ball away after a timeout. That led to Garcia’s fourth foul and another double-digit deficit. The Gophers trailed the entire game.
With Garcia limited because of foul trouble, Payne was the go-to inside presence with nine points in the second half. Christie and Mike Mitchell Jr. combined for 16 of their combined 25 points after the break.
Indiana State big man Robbie Avila, nicknamed “Cream Abdul-Jabbar,” was held to 11 points on 3-for-9 shooting, but he finished with seven of his team’s 20 assists.
Johnson was excited to extend the Gophers’ season in the NIT, but all of his players weren’t fully committed yet to return and try to create a Big Ten contender next year.
Hawkins, who finished with the school’s single-season assist record, told the Star Tribune after the Big Ten tournament that he would be back. Payne shared the same thoughts. Garcia and Christie, though, were waiting until after the season to decide on their futures.
Regardless of what the team looks like next season, Johnson is proud of a 10-win turnaround from last year and potential growth from playing in the NIT.
“Being able to go against a team who I think is an NCAA tournament team at home, you can’t put a price tag on that,” Johnson said. “We gained a ton of experience. Very thankful we were able to do it. Hopefully, we can use that as momentum in the spring and summer to come back and rebound from it to be a better team next year.”
The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.
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