Dec 21, 2024
One despondent Gophers fan had the bleachers of Section 204 to himself for Minnesota’s nonconference game against Fairleigh Dickinson on Saturday afternoon at Williams Arena. As the Gophers accumulated eight turnovers in the first half, the man buried his head in his hands after a few of them. He cheered a few strong defensive plays, but it was apparent the U’s sluggish and sloppy offense was dragging him down. When intermission came and Minnesota trailed 21-20, he zipped up his green winter jacket, walked out and didn’t return to his seat for the second half. The Gophers offense improved in the second half and the U finished off FDU with a 74-60 victory, but some of the U’s recent struggles lingered after an 0-2 start to Big Ten play was followed by a 12-day layoff. “We were pretty confident in the work we did this week,” said guard Mike Mitchell, the U’s co-leading scorer with 18 points. “We know we can hang our hat on defense.” FDU guard Terrence Brown, an alum of Columbia Heights High School, ranked eighth in the nation with a 22.1-point average coming into the game but shot poorly. The Minneapolis native had 10 points on 4 of 22 from the field, 0 for 4 from 3-point range. A group of Gophers defenders combined to help take Brown out of the game, with Femi Odukale setting the tone at the start. The U shot only 30% in the first half, but didn’t allow missed shots drag them down on the defensive end. “After a long break, the offense is going to be disjointed,” head coach Ben Johnson said. “… As we talked about during the break, the carry over defensively. I was not happy with how were defensively with effort and mentality and how it looked (in losses to Michigan State and Indiana); we had to find a way to get that back again, and I thought we did. “We didn’t consume ourselves with shots maybe not falling or offense looking sluggish. We focused on getting stops.” The Gophers had 10 kills — a series of three straight stops on defensive possessions — and five in each half. Minnesota shot 72% in the second half and four players finished in double figures: Mitchell and Dawson Garcia each put up 18, Lu’Cye Patterson and Odukale each added 10. Still, the Gophers (7-5) managed only one point per minute in the first half and trailed FDU (4-10) at the break. It wasn’t a good look with the Gophers 14th in the KenPom rankings and FDU more than 200 spots lower (331). Minnesota shot 30 percent from the field, 16 percent from 3-point range and were outscored 16-8 in the paint. Coming off its extended layoff, Minnesota was especially rusty in the beginning, with four turnovers in the first four minutes to trail 7-3. Gophers big man Frank Mitchell was out Saturday after going into concussion protocol during a practice late in the week. Parker Fox moved into the starting lineup Saturday and contributed six points, four blocks and two steals. The Gophers are now off until Morgan State at The Barn on Dec. 29. “We’ve got to be able to bottle this up,” Johnson said. Related Articles College Sports | Gophers football continues to restock offensive lineman for 2025 College Sports | Clock is ticking for Gophers men’s basketball to get season turned around College Sports | Would another long, cold winter of Gophers men’s basketball bring change? College Sports | Men’s basketball: Gophers can’t hang with Indiana in a 82-67 loss Monday College Sports | Gophers held down in 90-72 loss to Michigan State
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