Minnesota is competing without key parts of the puzzle but it hasn’t stopped the Golden Gophers from playing hard and squeezing out some wins.
Tuesday night was the latest example of that as Minnesota surged in the final 13 minutes at Oregon to earn a 61-44 Big Ten Conference win.
The Gophers (12-14, 5-10) will try to make it two straight victories on Saturday when they welcome Rutgers (11-15, 4-11) to Minneapolis for a late-morning start.
With Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (foot) on the shelf for a second straight game at Oregon, Minnesota still finished on a 32-14 run after falling behind by one. The margin reached as high as 19 points down the stretch.
Isaac Asuma led the way with 15 points and four assists, while Grayson Grove delivered career highs of 13 points and eight rebounds.
First-year coach Niko Medved would rather play faster and score more but with his rotation down to six players and one big man at Oregon, it’s simply a matter of making the most of what he has.
“We needed to muck it up,” he said.
Cade Tyson leads the Gophers’ attack at 19.2 points per game. Crocker-Johnson adds 13.4 points but is sidelined “indefinitely,” Medved confirmed on Friday.
Rutgers also has shown signs of life in the season’s home stretch. The Scarlet Knights won 85-72 at Penn State on Tuesday night for their first conference road triumph, hitting 30 of 53 field goals and 20 of 23 foul shots in an efficient performance.
Tariq Francis scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the first half and added seven assists, while Dylan Grant added 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
Coach Steve Pikiell was proud of his team’s defense, which has been a source of frustration at times this season.
“Twenty points,” he said of his team’s 39-20 halftime lead. “That’s as good a half defensively as we’ve had in a while. Good to go on the road and win.”
Francis is the team’s top scorer at 16.8 points per game while Grant is second with 10.7.
