Gophers men’s basketball earns No. 12 seed in Big Ten tourney but end regular season with OT loss at Rutgers

Battling for its postseason life for most of the season after an 0-6 conference start, the Gophers men’s basketball team made coach Ben Johnson proud for what it did to qualify for the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis before the final regular-season game.

Finishing .500 in the last 14 games of Big Ten play was no small feat, especially with the Gophers getting five road wins, the most since 2017.

A fifth consecutive road victory Sunday would have earned the Gophers the 11th seed in the upcoming tournament, but they lost 75-67 in overtime against Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J.

The Gophers (15-16, 7-13 Big Ten) own the tiebreaker over Iowa, USC and Nebraska, so they earned the No. 12 seed to play in Wednesday’s opener in the Big Ten tournament against No. 13 seed Northwestern.

“It’s a whole new season,” Johnson said on the postgame radio show. “I told them every game now that urgency is at a new level, because you just never know when it can be over. These guys have aspirations of playing in the postseason and much more basketball.”

Dawson Garcia led the Gophers with 19 points Sunday, including a floater with 7.5 seconds left to tie the score 61-61 and force an extra period.

Rutgers’ Dylan Harper nearly won the game in regulation with a spinning layup before Garcia answered. Harper was forced into a turnover before the second-half buzzer, but he had six of his 22 points in overtime for Rutgers (15-16, 8-12), which earned the 11th seed after getting the tiebreaker Sunday.

Only the top 15 teams qualify for the conference tournament this year, meaning Nebraska, Penn State and Washington were left out.

How close were the Gophers to missing the field? They got in basically with last weekend’s 67-65 victory at Nebraska on a three-pointer from Brennan Rigsby in the closing seconds.

On Sunday, Rigsby’s half-court heave for the victory fell short before the buzzer in regulation. The Gophers likely could have controlled the game if they had begun with more energy.

“So much of it with us and this team is our mental outlook,” Johnson said. “Whether it’s energy, whether it’s body language, that dictates how we go. In the first half, I thought we were just flat.”

After 11 lead changes, the Scarlet Knights held the Gophers scoreless from the field for the last 5½ minutes before leading 38-29 at halftime.

Not surprisingly considering how they have played on the road of late, the Gophers wouldn’t back down even after trailing 42-31 with 17 minutes left. They used a 10-0 run to take a 47-46 lead after a layup from Frank Mitchell with 10:51 left.

Garcia picked up his fourth foul with 7:17 to play, but Femi Odukale and Lu’Cye Patterson scored on back-to-back possessions to keep the score tied. Garcia later returned to hit a jumper to pull the Gophers ahead 56-55 with 2:48 to play.

Mitchell scored again on a layup to put Minnesota up 58-57 with 1:19 left. The 6-8, 260-pound junior continued his stellar play late this season with his second consecutive double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds Sunday.

BOXSCORE: Rutgers 75, Gophers 67 (OT)

In last Saturday’s first win ever at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, the Gophers saw Nebraska fold under pressure with nine missed free throws in the game. On Sunday, it was the Gophers who struggled from the line.

Rutgers took a 59-58 lead with 67 seconds left on two free throws by Jordan Derkake, but Odukale couldn’t give the Gophers the lead back going 1-for-2 at the line with 44 seconds left. That was part of a rough day of foul shooting for the Gophers, who went 13-for-23.

In the past two games, the Gophers were 21-for-38 on free throws, including seven misses in Wednesday’s 74-67 loss against Wisconsin at home.

It might be a short trip to Indianapolis if Johnson’s Gophers keep sabotaging themselves in close games.

“Those are the details that are so important,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to just be able to mentally be engaged in all aspects — and free-throw shooting is obviously one of them.”