Scoggins: Gophers men’s basketball team knocks off No. 19 Iowa 70-67

The double-digit lead had vanished. Their legs had to feel like Jell-O after logging so many minutes in a slugfest. The situation felt like an “uh-oh” moment.

The shorthanded Gophers men’s basketball squad lost a 14-point lead and trailed by one point against the No. 19 Iowa Hawkeyes with 74 seconds left on the clock on Jan. 6 at Williams Arena.

Coach Niko Medved calmed his players in the huddle during a 30-second timeout.

“The biggest thing is to just breathe,” senior forward Cade Tyson said. “Don’t be emotional, but play with emotion, if that makes sense.”

Perfect sense.

The Gophers breathed, then let their emotions spill out of their weary bodies after Iowa missed three potential game-tying three-pointers in the final 11 seconds, preserving a 70-67 win before a crowd of 8,976.

Beset by injuries, the Gophers are 10-5 overall, 9-0 at the Barn, 3-1 in the Big Ten and winners of five consecutive games. They have notched two victories over ranked opponents (Iowa and Indiana).

“We’re far from perfect, we’ve got our limitations,” he said, “but they give you everything they’ve got.”

The seeds for a program rebuild are being planted by a team that relies more on heart, grit and togetherness than an abundance of talent. The hallmarks of a well-coached team are on display along with those admirable traits.

Season-ending injuries to two starters (point guard Chansey Willis Jr. and forward Robert Vaihola) have left the Gophers’ margin for error thinner than dental floss.

Medved’s rotation has dwindled to seven players. All five starters played 30 minutes Tuesday, after three of them logged the full 40 in a victory at Northwestern on Saturday.

They don’t complain or mope or accept that convenient excuse. They just dig deep and keep battling.

Medved’s players seem to revel in the challenge, something that has brought them even closer. Besides, what’s the alternative?

“Sometimes when there are no choices, you’re either going to embrace it or you’re going to give in,” Medved said. “We’re not going to give in. We’re going to fight.”

Fans of basketball should love this team. They compete incredibly hard and play the right way.

The Gophers lead the nation in assist percentage (75.9), meaning no team makes a higher percentage of shots off assists. They had 15 assists on their 22 made baskets against the Hawkeyes.

Statistics can be misleading sometimes, but that one isn’t. It supports the eye test. The Gophers pass and cut and move without the ball. They look for open teammates and make the extra pass. Everyone touches the ball and is involved in making the motion offense function effectively.

That’s the brick-and-mortar foundation of Medved’s blueprint. The non-negotiables — effort, toughness and unselfishness — are already taking root.

“I just refuse to say that we can’t build this thing back,” Medved said. “College basketball matters in the Twin Cities. It’s our job to make it matter. It’s games like this that start to get that going again.”

This was another game that revealed their character.

Jaylen Crocker-Johnson drained a three-pointer after that timeout when the lead had vanished and his team trailed 64-63. He had missed his first four three-point attempts.

“He had the guts to take another one,” Medved said.

Asked if he worried the game might head to overtime as the Hawkeyes kept firing threes on a last-gasp possession, Reynolds sounded like he would have played until Wednesday morning.

“We were ready for it,” he said.