Minnesota enhances its uptick by overcoming No. 15 Oregon

Marcus Fuller, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jan 25, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS — The early national conversation about the Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball team this season was that just having Dawson Garcia wasn’t enough to compete in the Big Ten.

The Big Ten has been put on notice. Ben Johnson actually has a team that can compete with anyone.

Garcia’s 31 points led the Gophers to their third straight victory and second straight vs. a ranked opponent at home Saturday afternoon after a 77-69 upset of No. 15 Oregon at Williams Arena.

Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad completed a three-point play after fouling out Parker Fox, pulling the Ducks within 70-68.

After taking a late charge, Garcia hit a running layup off the glass to make it a four-point advantage with under a minute to play. Oregon was outscored 7-1 in the final 90 seconds, which included a game-ending slam from Garcia.

The Gophers (11-9, 3-6 Big Ten), who celebrated with fans storming the court, jumped out to their biggest lead against a Big Ten opponent this season Saturday after Garcia’s 10 early points, including a 3-pointer, made it 26-8 and ignited the home crowd.

Johnson’s team playing this well offensively wasn’t an aberration. The Gophers upset No. 20 Michigan, 84-81 in overtime, last week. They also had a 17-point advantage in the second half of Tuesday’s 72-67 win at Iowa.

The Ducks (16-4, 5-4), who were undefeated on the road this season, trailed 44-38 at halftime, but they used an 8-0 run to take the lead for the first time in the game.

It was a critical point for the Gophers, who were 0-16 vs. ranked opponents under Johnson before the win against Michigan.

Garcia, who drilled a buzzer-beater vs. the Wolverines in his previous home game, had his 13th game with 20 or more points this season and fifth straight.

The 6-11 senior from Savage dominated his frontcourt matchup with Oregon 7-footer Nate Bittle, who went scoreless with foul trouble.

Garcia picked up his second block midway through the second half when the Ducks went without a field goal for five minutes, but it was still a tight contest.

Oregon tied it 56-56 after T.J. Bamba’s layup at the 9:14 mark, but the Gophers wouldn’t fall behind after turning up their defensive effort.

Garcia’s third 3-pointer of the game made it a five-point advantage three minutes later. The Ducks had beaten Ohio State, USC and Penn State on the road in conference play, but the Barn proved to be a tougher place to play Saturday.

Feeding off the energy of the crowd, the Gophers scored on back-to-back dunks. Fox split the defense and put down a reverse slam. Femi Odukale, who bounced back after limping off the floor in the first half, had a put-back dunk for a 65-60 lead with 3:21 to play.

Fox finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Odukale had 10 points and five assists. Mike Mitchell had a season-high 10 assists for the Gophers, who shot 52% from the field and had 22 assists.

Oregon was tied for fourth place with Wisconsin in the Big Ten before Saturday’s game.

Entering the weekend, the Gophers were one spot ahead of last-place Washington in the Big Ten standings, but just one victory pushed them out of the bottom two teams in the Big Ten. That position is where nobody wants to end up since only 16 teams qualify for the Big Ten tournament this year.