Minnesota men's basketball team hangs with No. 20 Purdue, but it doesn't last

Marcus Fuller, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jan 2, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — Ben Johnson and Matt Painter entered Thursday’s first conference game of the New Year with basketball programs on completely opposite ends of the Big Ten hierarchy.

After back-to-back regular-season league titles, Purdue went to its first NCAA championship game since 1969 and finished as national runner-up last season.

The Minnesota Gophers were coming off their first postseason since 2019 after going to the NIT second round, but they were picked to finish last in the Big Ten this year.

You wouldn’t know such a gap existed from watching a tight game in the first half Thursday.

The preseason Big Ten title favorites got everything they could handle early Thursday night, but the Gophers looked overmatched in the second half and fell 81-61 to the No. 20 Boilermakers at Williams Arena.

The Gophers (8-6, 0-3 Big Ten) dropped to 0-16 under Johnson against ranked opponents and have lost 18 in a row vs. ranked teams. The Gophers don’t have a victory over a ranked team since beating Purdue in 2021 at home under Richard Pitino.

Dawson Garcia had a team-high 20 points. Lu’Cye Patterson added 14 points and eight rebounds.

The Boilermakers (10-4, 2-1) outscored the Gophers 53-34 in the second half behind Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith, who combined for 33 of their 44 points in the second half on 8-for-13 shooting from 3-point range.

Garcia’s second 3 of the game cut the Gophers’ deficit to 63-51 with under six minutes to play, but Smith answered with consecutive shots from long distance to stretch it to a 17-point margin.

For the first time in years, the Boilermakers had no 7-foot presence on the floor, playing without National Player of the Year Zach Edey, now an NBA rookie with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The 6-foot Smith, who had 34 points and 12 assists last weekend vs. Toledo, shot 1 for 7 from the field in the first half Thursday, but he wouldn’t be denied after Purdue led just 28-27 at halftime.

The Gophers took their first lead of the second half after Femi Odukale tipped in his own missed shot to make it 31-30.

The score was tied 33-33 when Garcia missed two free throws and Parker Fox threw the ball away on the next possession. The momentum swung for good when the Boilermakers went on a 9-2 run capped by a Cam Heide 3-pointer and Smith layup.

In an old-school, low-scoring Big Ten battle, the Gophers couldn’t string enough offense together outside of Garcia to gain control.

Mike Mitchell Jr., who had 22 points and six 3-pointers in the first half of Sunday’s win against Morgan State, was held to four points on 0-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc.

The Gophers put up over 70 points in four of the past five games entering Thursday, including in a 90-72 loss at home Dec. 4 against Michigan State.

Offensive issues grew even tougher against the Boilermakers with Minnesota shooting 4 for 17 from deep and 7 for 16 on free throws.

Fans started exiting once the game was out of reach. Another home game awaits, Monday night against Ohio State, for the Gophers to get their first Big Ten win this season.

Gophers were held without a field goal in the last 2:39. Loyer added two 3-pointers to put an exclamation point on Purdue’s dominance, including one with 17 seconds remaining in the game.

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