The only one who could slow down Dawson Garcia in the first half of the Gophers’ season opener on Wednesday was Ben Johnson. The preseason all-Big Ten forward didn’t miss any of his six shots, including a trio of 3-pointers, before Minnesota’s head coach subbed him out with 16 minutes and 10 seconds remaining before halftime. Garcia’s hot start and second-half surge paced Minnesota to an 80-57 win over Oral Roberts at Williams Arena. In the second half, Garcia picked up where he left off. The Savage, Minn., native finished with 30 points on 11 of 14 from the field and eight rebounds. He got a curtain call with less than three minutes left in the game. “Just the work I’ve put in really and kind of falling back on that as being second nature,” Garcia said. “… I just felt like I was out there playing my game, playing loose and having fun.” Minnesota’s defense limited Summit League player of the year favorite Issac McBride to 1 for 7 from the field into the second half. The senior finished with a quiet 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting; he was a top 40 scorer in the nation at 19.8 points per game last year. With Tyler Cochran injured, the Gophers’ best perimeter defenders this season are Femi Odukale and Mike Mitchell, according to Johnson. At Toledo last season, Cochran was the Mid-American Conference defensive player of the year, but he is out until December with a foot injury. Odukale, Mitchell and true freshman Isaac Asuma each spent time on McBride. Johnson felt like it was more of a team effort and showed an application from the scouting report to the game. “I thought our guys did a really good job,” Johnson said. “We had multiple guys on him. He was obviously a big point of emphasis in the scout. … Guards and bigs, with the pick-and-roll defense that we had, I thought guys were really active and I thought our box help was really good. It comes with being the aggressor and getting into the ball.” Minnesota distributed the ball well Wednesday, with 25 assists on 30 baskets. Mitchell had a game-high nine assists while backup center Trey Edmonds had a surprising six assists. With Garcia’s big scoring production, Parker Fox and Lu’Cye Patterson were the only other two Gophers in double digits. Fox had 14 and Patterson 10. The Gophers burst out to a 29-8 lead with eight minutes left in the first half and built it up to to 28 points at 74-46 with four minutes remaining in the game. The Gophers never let Oral Roberts — which is picked to finish fifth in the nine-team Summit League — have much of a foothold on the game. The Gophers’ starting lineup was Garcia, Mitchell, Patterson, Fox and Brennan Rigsby. Asuma, Edmonds and Odukale were the first players off the bench. Kadyn Betts also got minutes in a nine-man rotation. Odukale missed the two exhibition games with a hip injury, but he was able to play 20 minutes with six assists and four steals, with Johnson pointing out his three turnovers were uncharacteristic from what he showed in practice. Minnesota was down to 10 scholarship players Wednesday with three sidelined: Cochran, Frank Mitchell (shoulder) and Caleb William (illness). Johnson said it’s possible Mitchell can return for Saturday’s game versus Nebraska Omaha; he is back in workouts after dislocating his shoulder in the exhibition game against Hamline last week. Related Articles College Sports | Gophers’ Parker Fox brings ‘life’ in eighth year of college basketball College Sports | Men’s basketball: Gophers add three-star wing Jacob Ross to 2025 recruiting class College Sports | Men’s basketball: Gophers start sluggish but finish strong in exhibition win over Bemidji State College Sports | Expected to finish last, Gophers’ Ben Johnson pushes back on Big Ten basketball preseason poll College Sports | Gophers transfer guard Tyler Cochran has surgery, out until December