Gophers give No. 2 Purdue a fight, but fall short of upset

Dawson Garcia had 24 points to lead Minnesota.

After Pharrel Payne took some contact from Zach Edey while reaching up for a lob and no whistle was called, resulting in a turnover for the Minnesota men’s basketball team, Gophers coach Ben Johnson showed some frustration towards the officials.

Then he was hit with a technical foul.

While that sequence only resulted in a three-point swing, it proved to be a momentum changer for No. 2 Purdue, which was down eight points at the time. 

The Boilermakers then rallied back, first starting with an 8-0 run before holding the Gophers without a field goal for a six-minute stretch during an 84-76 victory Thursday night in West Lafayette, Ind.

The Boilermakers (23-2, 12-2 Big Ten) flipped a 10-point deficit early in the second half into a 10-point lead. While the Gophers (15-9, 6-7) rallied right back to cut their deficit to four late, Mason Gillis’ 3-pointer with just over two minutes remaining gave Purdue a 79-71 advantage. While Elijah Hawkins immediately answered with a 3-pointer of his own, Braden Smith drove down the lane for a layup, was fouled and hit the free throw to essentially put the game on ice.

Purdue opened the game on a 16-5 run, but the Gophers caught fire from 3, with Cam Christie and Mike Mitchell Jr. each hitting multiple from beyond the arc during a 21-5 Gophers run that allowed Minnesota to take an eight-point halftime lead.

Payne made a layup for the first bucket of the second half to put the Gophers up 10.

But the Boilermakers rallied behind the shooting of Smith and Edey’s prowess in the paint. Edey, who sat for extended stretches in the first half due to foul trouble, finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds. Smith had 16 points.

Dawson Garcia, who was a game-time decision after suffering an injury that kept him out down the stretch of Sunday’s loss to Iowa, scored 24 points before fouling out.

Mitchell and Christie had 14 and 13 points, respectively, but cooled significantly in the second half, with each posting just two points apiece after the halftime break.

The Gophers gave the Boilermakers everything they could handle and fought to the finish, but Purdue proved to have just a little more fight.