Four things learned from Gophers’ win over Penn State

With less than 90 seconds to play Saturday at Penn State, Gophers point guard Elijah Hawkins fouled out, but the hopes for his team ending a four-game slide didn’t exit with him.

The Gophers overcame all sorts of obstacles Saturday night to pull out the 83-74 victory against the Nittany Lions in State College. Hawkins’ foul trouble. Pharrel Payne sidelined with injury. Trailing by 16 points.

For the first time since 2019-20, the Gophers have two Big Ten road victories in a season. That’s the most since winning five league road games with an NCAA tournament team in 2016-17.

How many more road victories can coach Ben Johnson’s team get this year? The Gophers (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten), who host Northwestern next Saturday, have five road games left this regular season.

“The stuff we talk about every single day is not necessarily the scoring end,” Johnson said Saturday. “It’s the winning plays. It’s the rebounds. The 50-50 [balls]. The blocks. The [hustling]. All that stuff. It came into play.”

Here are four things learned from the victory at Penn State to end the four-game losing streak:

Freshman Cam Christie’s talent showed up in a big way to help the Gophers take control in the second half Saturday.

The 6-6 former four-star recruit had 13 of his 19 points in the second half, but it wasn’t just his shooting 4-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 from the foul line. Hawkins’ foul trouble in the first half exposed the Gophers when they crumbled under Penn State’s pressure, but Christie learned from his early mistakes.

Christie looked much more comfortable sharing point guard duties, defending and handling Penn State’s physicality in the second half. He had three of his team-high five assists with zero turnovers after halftime. He also led the Gophers with eight rebounds (six in the second half) and two steals (both in the second half).

In last week’s loss at Michigan State, Christie was on pace to have a big night, but he ended up fouling out with eight minutes left. Would the outcome have been different if he finished the game? Maybe.

Hawkins, Christie and Mike Mitchell Jr. combined for 38 points, 17 rebounds and 14 assists Saturday. Penn State’s backcourt of Kanye Clary, Ace Baldwin and Nick Kern had 38 points combined. But Minnesota’s starting backcourt outscored its counterpart 26-13 in the second half.

Replacing one of the top young post players in the Big Ten seemed like a daunting task with Payne sidelined with a back injury Saturday.

Parker Fox and Joshua Ola-Joseph delivered when called upon as undersized forwards to provide an inside presence against a bigger and more athletic Nittany Lions frontcourt.

Fox, who had 11 points and four blocks, scored on a baseline dunk with 2:18 to play that gave the Gophers the lead for good at 72-70. His rim protection also was a huge lift defensively, with three blocks in the second half. Not bad for the “old man” with two missed years with knee injuries.

Ola-Joseph, who had 14 points and five rebounds, opened the night as the U’s go-to guy in the paint. His last basket and board ended up arguably being the play of the game.

After Dawson Garcia missed a three-point play opportunity with a minute left, the 6-7 sophomore snatched the ball from a Penn State player off the glass and finished strong on another defender. His layup and free throw made it 77-71 with 1:03 to play. Ola-Joseph went 6-for-6 from the foul line.

“Josh’s rebound on the free throw, in my opinion, kind of sealed it,” said Johnson, who was fist-pumping on the sideline after the play.

The Gophers said they were a better foul-shooting team than ranking last in the Big Ten. They had yet to prove it until Saturday night.

After shooting 60% on free throws in the first eight Big Ten games, the Gophers were 23-for-26 (88.5%) at Penn State, including 15-for-16 in the second half. They hit eight straight foul shots during a 31-11 run to steal the momentum after trailing by 16 points.

In comparison, Penn State finished 13-for-18 on free throws, but they were 8-for-12 in the second half.

It’s no surprise that the Gophers shot better from the charity stripe on a night when Payne was out. He’s the worst foul shooter on the team at 40%, but he’s second on the team with 65 free throw attempts (behind only Garcia’s 106). Payne practices shooting as much as anyone, but he’s a work in progress at the line.

In the Wisconsin loss, the Gophers went 5-for-13 from the line, but Payne had six of those attempts. On Saturday, five Minnesota players shot at least four free throws. Ola-Joseph shot 6-for-6. Garcia went 5-for-6. That’s pretty clutch shooting at the line for the U’s starting frontcourt.

Garcia was without a field goal attempt more than six minutes into the game Saturday. It usually takes time for him to get going. He often saves his best for last.

The 6-11 junior became a different player in the second half with 15 of his 20 points, including 5-for-10 shooting from the field. Garcia’s at his best when he can beat opposing big men off the dribble going to his left, which is what he did to finish plus the foul for a 74-71 lead with 1:05 left Saturday.

Earlier this season, Garcia had 28 of his career-high 36 points in the second half in a loss at Ohio State. He scored 19 of his 30 points in the second half in a loss against Iowa a couple of weeks ago. He also had 13 of his 22 points in the second half in a loss at Michigan State last week.

The obvious pattern is that Garcia’s second-half heroics alone weren’t enough to lead his team to victory, but it certainly helps put them over the top when he gets support.

With nearly a week before the next game on Feb. 3 vs. Northwestern, Payne’s hopeful to return to add more firepower to the frontcourt with Garcia and company.

“We can buy him time now,” Johnson said Saturday. “Cross our fingers, hopefully he’ll be able to [practice] next week. It was icing on the cake to rest him and get a win.”