After three games, the Gophers men’s basketball team is still looking for its first victory away from Williams Arena this season.
Ebuka Okorie, the leading scorer among Division I freshmen, scored 25 points to help Stanford outlast the Gophers 72-68 in the Acrisure Series on Thursday in Palm Desert, Calif.
Okorie, a 6-2 true freshman guard who went into the game sixth in the nation with an average of 23.8 points per game, made two free throws with two seconds remaining to seal the victory for the Cardinal (5-1).
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, who led the Gophers with a season-high 23 points, made the first of two free throws with four seconds remaining to pull the Gophers within 70-68. He missed the second intentionally, but Okorie grabbed the rebound and was fouled.
The Gophers (4-3) lost their second game in a row. They are 4-0 at home under new coach Niko Medved, but their three trips away from Minnesota have resulted in a road loss at Missouri and now back-to-back neutral-site losses. They lost to San Francisco 77-65 on Saturday in Sioux Falls.
They will play their third consecutive neutral-site game against a Bay Area team when they play Santa Clara at 8:30 p.m. Friday in Palm Desert. Santa Clara lost to St. Louis 71-70 on Thursday for its first loss of the season.
The Gophers shot 51.1% from the floor to Stanford’s 37.3%. But the Gophers committed 14 turnovers to the Cardinal’s eight, and Stanford outscored them 27-10 on points off turnovers.
The Gophers led by as many as 10 in the first half Thursday in a back-and-forth game that saw seven lead changes and three ties. Their lead was still 34-25 with 3:14 left in the half, but the Cardinal closed to within 34-31 at halftime.
