Gophers vs. Washington game will reunite ex-teammates Dawson Garcia and Tyree Ihenacho

The last time Dawson Garcia and Tyree Ihenacho were on the same basketball court was their senior season at Prior Lake High School, before the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020.

Garcia was named a McDonald’s All-American. Ihenacho teamed with him to form one of the top inside-outside tandems in the state, but their high school careers ended in a second straight loss to Eden Prairie in the 4A section playoffs.

“If we were in the same section now, we’d probably win the state this year,” former Prior Lake coach Jon Miller said. “That’s how talented the team was with Dawson and Tyree their senior year. It was crazy.”

Garcia and Ihenacho went through separate but similar journeys in college while transferring to multiple schools, but both eventually arrived in the Big Ten.

They’ll meet as foes only once this regular season when Garcia’s Gophers (11-10, 3-7 Big Ten) host Ihenacho and Washington (10-10, 1-8) on Saturday at Williams Arena.

“We only play him at the Barn, but it will be fun,” Garcia said. “It’s a little homecoming game for him. We’ve got a bunch of mutual friends who will be in the same section. They all watched us together. That will be a cool experience.”

Cool and fun — more for their inner circles. For Garcia and Ihenacho, this is an urgent time competing for the same thing, trying to get their respective programs on better footing in the lower half of the Big Ten.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Garcia said. “Why not take what we have to from [the Michigan State loss] and flip it and learn from it? We need to go into the Washington game with the confidence to get another winning streak going.”

Washington’s six-game losing streak included five straight games against ranked opponents. The Huskies have the No. 1 toughest schedule in the Big Ten play this far, just above the Gophers and Northwestern, according to KenPom.com.

“We haven’t been winning, but we’ve been in really close games with a lot of good teams,” said Ihenacho, who has started 19 games. “We still have 11 games left, so we’re trying to capitalize and start to put some wins up.”

Ihenacho, an athletic 6-4 guard, had only one Division I offer in high school. But after transferring from Burnsville, he paired with Garcia to give Prior Lake two of its best teams in program history.

“It was super fun,” Ihenacho said. “The crowds were always crazy. Both junior and senior year. There were a lot of people coming to games. The love from the community was there for sure.”

He transferred to James Madison for two years before returning to North Dakota for last season.

“I went back to North Dakota to be closer to home and for a better opportunity,” Ihenacho said. “Now I’m here playing in the Big Ten. It’s crazy. It’s something I always dreamed of.”

Garcia took his own winding road. He averaged 32 points and reached the 40-point mark five times his senior season at Prior Lake with Ihenacho as his floor leader.

The 6-11 Garcia signed with Marquette out of high school before transferring to North Carolina and then to Minnesota. He’s having another big season for the Gophers with six straight 20-point games, including 31 points in last week’s upset of No. 15 Oregon at home.

He’ll look to keep that going Saturday against his old teammate.

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