Four things: Gophers find positives, but left stung in loss to Spartans

EAST LANSING, MICH. – Dawson Garcia had never played with the Gophers against Michigan State until Thursday night, but he felt like an upset was brewing.

With under four minutes left, Garcia brought the Gophers back and had them in position to take the lead with the game tied 62-62.

The 6-11 junior forward returned home to play for coach Ben Johnson for moments like this, when a signature Big Ten win could be a stepping stone for Minnesota’s basketball program.

A few minutes later, Garcia and the Gophers left the court disappointed they couldn’t finish strong in a 76-66 loss to the Spartans.

“I thought we were going to win the game the whole time,” Garcia said. “And I know everybody else did. Just kind of disappointed right now, but you can’t knock the fight we had.”

The Gophers (12-6, 3-4 Big Ten) have lost three straight games, but falling to Michigan State on Thursday seemed tougher to swallow for players because of how close they were for most of the night.

Here are four things learned from the Michigan State loss:

Playing their first game without Elijah Hawkins (sprained ankle) this season was even more difficult than the Gophers could’ve imagined.

Michigan State’s Breslin Center is a hostile environment and one of the loudest venues in the Big Ten. That didn’t excuse the fact that the Gophers committed a season-high 19 turnovers, including 11 in the first half.

Hawkins, who leads the nation with 7.8 assists per game, struggled taking care of the ball at times this season, but there’s no one on the team capable of playing with his pace.

“He’s really important for our team,” said Mike Mitchell Jr., who finished with 14 points, five assists and three turnovers in nearly 40 minutes.

Garcia was proud of the way his teammates did their best to replace Hawkins, but “there’s no denying Elijah makes us a better team.”

The area the Gophers missed Hawkins the most was in their ability to get quality shots within the offense. They entered Thursday leading the Big Ten with 19 assists per game, but only had 13 against Michigan State.

Michigan State’s Tyson Walker didn’t look like the All-Big Ten version of himself for the first 30-plus minutes Thursday, but his frustration turned into motivation to bury the Gophers late.

The 6-1 senior guard finished with a team-high 21 points on 7-for-13 shooting, outscoring the Gophers 12-4 in the last 3:38. In fact, the Gophers had zero field goals in the last 5:39.

Walker opened Thursday going after Gophers freshman Cam Christie, the younger brother of ex-Spartan Max Christie. Walker stared down Christie after his first basket on a baseline jumper.

But Walker only scored eight points on 3-for-8 shooting until sparking the Spartans in the last 3 ½ minutes of the game.

The Gophers went to a 2-3 zone late, but Walker easily nailed a mid-range jumper for the first basket of 10 straight points to seal the win.

“I thought we did a good job in the first half, but he’s a really good player,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson said. “They run a lot of good stuff for him, so it’s hard to completely shut him down. He did a good job attacking.”

For only the second time this season, the Gophers had Garcia and Pharrel Payne in the starting lineup Thursday at Michigan State.

After Hawkins was sidelined with an injury, Johnson decided to go with a bigger lineup using Payne as his starting center.

The 6-9, 255-pound sophomore was questionable to play with back pain, but he ended up with seven points on 2-for-7 shooting and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes.

Foul trouble limited Payne throughout the night. He also looked fatigued at times keeping up with Michigan State’s post players running the floor. That’s understandable since he sits out most practices to rest lingering injuries.

Getting Hawkins and Payne back 100% healthy will be critical to end the Gophers’ three-game slide Tuesday against Wisconsin at home.

“I give Pharrel Payne a ton of credit because he hasn’t practiced the last two days,” Johnson said. “I know his back has been bothering him.”

The Gophers went through a stretch in the previous three games when they looked like the worst shooting team in the Big Ten.

They were 14-for-72 (19%) from three-point range in games against Maryland, Indiana and Iowa.

They saw a major improvement Thursday going 7-for-20 (35%) from beyond the arc, including five three-pointers in the first half.

That was thanks in large part to Mitchell finding his shot again. The 6-2 junior had combined to shoot 1-for-10 from three in his previous three games, but he shot 3-for-9 from long distance Thursday.

Minnesota’s free-throw shooting continues to be a lingering problem, though.

In Big Ten games, the Gophers are secind-to-last in foul shooting at 62.7%. They were 17-for-26 (65.4%) against the Spartans, even with Garcia going 9-for-12 from the line.