Reusse: Coach Ben Johnson’s job status is the key detail as various factors and a bad team sink the Gophers

Both Gophers hockey teams and the men’s basketball team were scheduled Saturday to compete in the odd-shaped triangle of buildings that share Fourth Street on campus.

The women’s and men’s hockey teams were attempting to complete sweeps and improve already lofty places in the national rankings.

Abbey Murphy, future PWHL standout, and her Gophers were at Ridder Arena for a 2 p.m. faceoff with defending national champion Ohio State. Jimmy Snuggerud, an NHLer perhaps as soon as April, and his Gophers would be facing better-dead-than-red rival Wisconsin inside “Mariucci” at 5 p.m.

Intriguing contests to be sure, but combined, Brad Frost with the No. 3-rated women and Bob Motzko with the No. 4 men were not facing the pressure that their coaching contemporary, Ben Johnson, had to be feeling across the street in the mammoth basketball barn.

This was not a featured attraction on a long day of televised Big Ten basketball. You didn’t have to look for the Gophers and Washington in the standings to ascertain that. All it took was a glance at the scheduled starting time: 11 a.m.

I mean, come on Big Ten, this was 9 a.m. Pacific time. Have you no concern for those dozens of people in Seattle who would have watched this tilt, only to tune in and discover the game was over?

Imagine their shock when they found out the Huskies had won — victory No. 2 out of their first-ever 10 in the Big Ten.

And then came 10 days when this occurred: victories over Michigan and Oregon and a rare win at Iowa. OK, Michigan and Oregon were both rated, but neither of ‘em really belonged, and these Hawkeyes are so bad they might get coach Fran McCaffery a very expensive contract buyout.

The Gophers’ winning spurt ended at Michigan State, as almost guaranteed, and that brought us to Saturday’s sunrise (in Seattle) special:

Would the Gophers return to being who we thought they were by losing at home to a bad team? Or, would they return to a path that might allow Johnson to pull off one of the more surprising saves of a high-profile coaching job that we’ve had in these parts in recent memory?

Final: Washington 71, Gophers 68.

And that puts Johnson, hardworking fellow, done in by transfer portal mania, back on double it’s-no-secret probation.

There was also second-guessing to be done. Freshman Isaac Asuma was the Gophers’ best player in 14 minutes in the first half, then played under a minute in the second half. Of course, the Gophers were down 40-30 at the half, and Johnson said he decided to ride with the veterans once the gap was closed.

The crowd was announced at 9,202; as usual, that estimate seemed generous by a couple of thousand. But if this had been old times, when the Barn was mostly full and the faithful were younger and took wins and losses more personally, I’ll tell you where the complaints would have been focused:

The refs.

The crew was Brian Dorsey, Jason Phillips and Randy Richardson — the latter of whom might have made the biggest play of the game.

The Gophers had started a bit of a run. Down nine, Femi Odukale hit a three, the Gophers made a defensive stop (after a shaky foul call against Frank Mitchell) and Dawson Garcia scored on a break and was fouled.

Richardson alleged to his cohorts that Mitchell, in his glee after Garcia’s layup, had gotten in the face of a Washington player.

Wasn’t much there, not enough to let DJ Davis go to the other end to shoot a couple of free throws, but sometimes the refs just have to take control — even when the only thing being controlled in this case was momentum.

And what’s the harm with a whistle like that?

The Gophs did plenty wrong, the only player who scored from 13:08 to 5:55 in the second half was Dawson Garcia, and Asuma watched too long.