Ben Johnson: Must clean up mistakes, get help from 'basketball gods'

Minnesota suffered a heartbreaking loss to No. 13 Wisconsin on Tuesday.

Almost everything went according to plan for the Gophers men’s basketball team on the final play of Tuesday night’s game against No. 13 Wisconsin at Williams Arena. 

Almost.

With the Gophers trailing 61-58, the Badgers weren’t about to let them attempt a potential game-tying 3-point shot, so they fouled instead. Mike Mitchell Jr. went to the line for a 1-and-1 and made the front end.

He intentionally missed the second, tracked down the rebound and had a good look at a potential game-tying jumper from the right baseline. It went off the glass, hit the front of the rim but just didn’t fall. The ball bounced away from the U’s bigs on the opposite side and hit the floor as Wisconsin escaped Minneapolis with a 61-59 victory.

“We kind of had a set play and we’ve practiced that and worked on it. Couldn’t get a better miss by (Mitchell). That was a great miss,” Gophers coach Ben Johnson said of the final free throw. “And again, sometimes you got to live with the results. He had a great shot. That is what it is, you shoot it, you hope it goes in, but to get us in that position, the bigs did what they needed to do on that play, and (Mitchell) read it great and had a great miss and you have a great opportunity to make it."

“I think at some point here soon the basketball gods are finally gonna shine down on us because that did everything but go in," Johnson added. "And these guys have done everything we’ve asked. And you just think at some point we got to get a little bit of luck here.”

The Gophers certainly haven’t been lucky against Wisconsin in recent years. Since Johnson took over as Gophers coach, the border rivals have met five times — all Gophers losses. But those five losses have been by just 16 points combined, every game going right down to the wire. 

Even in Tuesday’s game there were moments of misfortune. The U shot just 9 for 29 from the field and 3 for 14 from 3-point range in the first half. Johnson felt the Gophers settled for some shots, but the good looks they had weren’t falling, either.

You could also make an argument that Chucky Hepburn hit Elijah Hawkins’ arm on his shot with five seconds remaining when the Gophers were down 59-58. On the stat sheet, Tyler Wahl, who was not involved with the play, was credited with a block. 

“I don’t think (calls are) ever an excuse,” Johnson said. “We got to just find a way, be detail oriented, especially at the end, and find a way to dig one out.”

Minnesota had plenty of opportunities to do so, bad luck or not. Down the stretch, Hawkins had a turnover that led to a transition dunk from AJ Storr that tied the game at 57-57. On the Gophers’ next possession, Pharrel Payne traveled.

The U got a stop on the other end, and a technical foul was called on Storr for grabbing the rim. Dawson Garcia missed the technical free throw, Minnesota let the shot clock drain on the following possession and Garcia was forced to take a deep 3-pointer as the clock was expiring.

Braeden Carrington bailed the U out with an offensive rebound and was fouled while attempting a shot under the hoop but made just one of two free-throw attempts.

Meanwhile, Storr made both ends of a 1-and-1 after being fouled by Payne on the other end. Wahl also made two free throws down the stretch after Hawkins’ missed shot. Wisconsin was 8 for 10 from the charity stripe. The U was just 5 of 13.

“I think we’re more than right there. But we got to do our job and stamp it, finish it,” Johnson said.

The Gophers also could’ve put themselves in a better position during the first half. Wisconsin held them scoreless for a long stretch as it built a 15-point lead, although the U was able to cut it down to 10 by the halftime break.

“We’re right there. There’s definitely some possessions where it was kind of wasted. That first half for sure, you know, we were rushing shots, early threes in the offense. We got to clean that up, a better first-half start because we can’t get down 10 to a top-15 team,” Carrington said. “But if we clean that up and we just play hard from the jump, I feel like we’re right in there with any other team.”

The Gophers have proved they can compete in the Big Ten. And they proved on Tuesday they can compete with the top teams in the Big Ten — Wisconsin currently sits atop the conference standings. But as Johnson has said regularly, nothing is going to come easy in the Big Ten Conference. The Gophers will need to play with the same effort and intensity against each opponent as they did on Tuesday against their rivals.

“In life you have two options when you get knocked down: You can stay down or you can get back up. And this train’s going to keep moving. We got to find ways to get back up, and I think we will because we’ve got a resilient group,” Johnson said. “As much as it hurts, as much as it stings, you know, that’s life, you got to be able to bounce back and take a punch and get back up and keep fighting.” 

Minnesota still has 12 more games. Those are 12 more opportunities for the Gophers. Now it all comes down to how they respond. 

And maybe a little help from the basketball gods.