Dawson Garcia maturing into his role has Gophers men’s basketball on an upswing

Andy Greder, Pioneer Press
·4 min read
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The Gophers men’s basketball team needed a dose of validation at the one-quarter mark of the Big Ten schedule last week.

Close losses to Wisconsin and Nebraska (in overtime) weren’t going to cut it, and Minnesota got proof of concept in their 70-67 victory at Ohio State on Thursday.

“It was important because you want the guys to understand and trust what we’re doing,” head coach Ben Johnson said.

Johnson believes his team will improve as the season progresses, in part, due to four freshmen among the team’s eight-player rotation. Their alphas also are stepping up.

Minnesota (7-8, 1-4 Big Ten) will get another chance to show its progress against Illinois (12-5, 3-3) at 5 p.m. Monday at Williams Arena.

Against Ohio State, forward Dawson Garcia had a career-high-tying 28 points on 9-for-15 shooting to go with nine rebounds. Just five days earlier, Garcia had his first double-double of the season against Nebraska, finishing with 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.

His recent surge is “him assuming the responsibility of having the mature game and understanding he has to pick his spots,” Johnson said Friday. “When to be aggressive offensively and understanding, like (Thursday) night, he had it going, he was able to stay in a groove and in a rhythm because he didn’t get out of character. He didn’t take shots that disrupted or stalled our offense or were just kind of, like, more selfish shots.”

Garcia, too, has needed time to adjust to the Gophers putting more on his shoulders offensively than what he had to bear at either of his previous stops, North Carolina and Marquette.

Garcia also lost about 20 pounds due to an illness in November, but has put the weight back on and is becoming a force for Minnesota.

All-access

The Gophers granted FS1 the opportunity to mic up Johnson on Thursday and allowed cameras in the locker room and into courtside huddles during timeouts for one of the network’s “all-access” games. Not only did Minnesota win, but Johnson showed himself to be enthusiastic, encouraging and engaging on the sideline.

“From a fan standpoint, a recruiting standpoint, any time you can show off your program, it’s a good thing,” Johnson said. “For us to be able to do it in league, (against) a really strong opponent, and for our guys to play as hard and as well as they did, that can only be a positive.”

During one timeout, Johnson asked center Pharrel Payne if he was OK to play after suffering a midsection injury during the game. Johnson asked him three different times.

“I looked over a Pharrell and he was in pain,” Johnson said. “He was really hurting, but he didn’t want to come out the game. It’s, like, dude I’m not asking you. I’m not questioning your toughness right now. We need to win the game and need to know if you are physically able to go in the game. He kept giving me his look of, ‘This really hurts. I’m not good.’ So I had to keep checking.”

Payne stayed in the game and the freshman from Cottage Grove contributed to the refreshing win.

Other targets

When Dain Dainja, now at Illinois was at Park Center High School, the Gophers only lightly recruited the 6-foot-9 forward because they had Payne in the 2022 recruiting class and were going to recruit eventual 2023 signee Dennis Evans, Johnson said Friday.

Dainja went to Baylor, played very little in his freshman year and transferred to the Illini. The Brooklyn Park native had a game-high 20 points in the Illini’s 75-66 win over Michigan State on Friday. He is averaging 10.4 points and 5.9 rebounds in 17 games this season for the Illini.

Briefly

Evans and fellow incoming prospect Cam Christie were nominated to be McDonald’s All-Americans last week. … Minnesota is 45-46 at home vs. Illinois in the overall series. … The Gophers’ 1-4 conference record is the same pace as last season when they finished 4-16. … Point guard Ta’Lon Cooper dished his 500th career assist against the Buckeyes. He has 94 this season with Minnesota. … The Illini are paced by guard Terrence Shannon, who is averaging 18 points per game.

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