Four Gophers men's basketball takeaways: freshmen rising, but team scoring woes persist

The losses are piling up so frequently now for the Gophers men's basketball team that Ben Johnson has made a habit of finding different ways to praise his players beyond the outcome.

Being overly positive would've been difficult if the Gophers suffered another blowout but Sunday's 68-56 loss against Iowa was easily in the moral victory category.

Johnson played with only eight scholarship players again Sunday, but he also started three freshmen who had too much pride to let the highest scoring team in the Big Ten thrash them at home.

"I think they did a good job of staying within what we were trying to do," Johnson said. "When you've got three of them out there, they're figuring out how to play with each other more."

Here are four takeaways:

Freshmen show fight

Midway through the first half Sunday, Iowa's Kris Murray grabbed a lob pass over his defender and thought he had a wide-open layup, but it was quickly sent right back.

Ola-Joseph and Henley combined to score 13 straight points during that 16-6 Gophers run that helped the Gophers stay within 32-29 at halftime.

Both Henley and Ola-Joseph have athletic and lengthy 6-7 frames that make them tough to stop when they're aggressive offensively and attacking the rim. That's exactly the type of confidence and fight after being down early that Johnson hopes to see from his freshmen moving forward.

"They're understanding how to be aggressive but stay in their lane and do things they're good at," Johnson said. "I thought they played downhill. I thought they lived at the rim. I don't think they settled for much. Obviously, we didn't get off to a good start, but [it was good] to be able to fight back and withstand that run."

The Gophers started three freshmen for the first time this season Sunday with Henley getting his first start since Dec. 8 against Michigan. And Ola-Joseph and Pharrel Payne started their fourth straight game together. Henley had 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Ola-Joseph's 11 points paced the Gophers, who were led in scoring by a freshmen for the eighth straight time this season and third straight game.

Defensive improvement

The credit goes to the Gophers for making life miserable early for Murray, who had 10 points on 4-for-15 shooting in the first half. Murray ended up with 28 points, but he took 27 shots to do it.

"The effort [Jamison Battle] gave on the defensive end was maybe the best of the year next to Ohio State," Johnson said. "To see a guy this late in the year battle consistently, that's leadership right there."

Battle had a career-high three blocks to lead the Gophers, who blocked nine shots Sunday.

The Gophers had three of their worst defensive performances in consecutive losses to Northwestern, Rutgers, and Maryland before Sunday. They allowed a combined 252 points. But Iowa was held well below its Big Ten-leading average of nearly 81 points per game, so Sunday was a big step in the right direction defending the way Johnson expects.

Frontcourt frustration

Making matters worse has been the U's leading scorer and rebounder Dawson Garcia missing five straight games with a bone bruise. And Payne has played with a minor foot injury the last few games, replacing teammates in the middle.

The lack of healthy bodies in the paint became a significant factor Sunday. The Hawkeyes outscored the Gophers 42-28 in the paint and converted 17 offensive rebounds into 15 points. Iowa's starting frontcourt of Murray and Filip Rebraca combined for 44 points and 22 rebounds.

Scoring woes continue

The Gophers had one of their best shooting games of the Big Ten season going 50% from the field Sunday, but they still scored below their Big Ten-worst average of 60.9 points.

It was the 11^th time this season where the Gophers scored 60 points or fewer in a game. They finished with 28 points in the paint, but 14 turnovers and the lack of scoring in two areas made the biggest difference.