Gophers post important wire-to-wire victory over Ohio State

Minnesota never trailed in Thursday's win at Williams Arena.

In a crucial Big Ten matchup, the Gophers men’s basketball team delivered one of its better performances of the season.

Minnesota jumped out to an early double-digit advantage and never looked back in an 88-79 win over Ohio State Thursday night at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. The U never trailed after taking an early 12-point lead and turned back every attempt at an Ohio State run.

It's a Quad 2 win for the Gophers, but an important one to move them up the NET rankings and keep their hopes for an NCAA Tournament berth alive. 

Elijah Hawkins was aggressive offensively for the Gophers (17-9, 8-7 Big Ten), crossing up Buckeyes defenders on drives to the hoop and hitting key and timely outside shots. Hawkins finished with 24 points on 6-of-10 shooting, seven assists and two rebounds.

Dawson Garcia was hot early, scoring eight points as the U jumped out to a 14-4 lead early in the first half. Mike Mitchell Jr. also knocked down a pair of 3-pointers during the early run, which got the Gophers off and running. Garcia finished with 22 points and nine rebounds while Mitchell ended his night with eight points and five assists.

Pharrel Payne also had 15 points and four rebounds for the U.

The Buckeyes (15-12, 5-11) went on marginal runs in the first half with former Gophers standout Jamison Battle making a couple timely 3s, including one that tied the game at 30-30 at one point in the first half. 

The U, however, still went into the halftime break up eight.

Battle was one of two Buckeyes players to find much of a rhythm despite hearing “Battle sucks” and other harsher chants from the crowd at The Barn in his return. Battle tallied 21 points, three rebounds and two assists. Bruce Thornton also helped keep the Buckeyes afloat, tallying 25 points and six assists. 

Ohio State cut its deficit to as few as seven in the second half, but the Gophers never let it get any closer. Garcia drove in for a layup, Hawkins drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Cam Christie pulled up in transition and drilled one from long range as the U quickly pushed their seven-point advantage back up to 13.

It was mostly smooth sailing from there.

Even when the offense wasn’t rolling for the U, it got a stop or a steal on the other end. Minnesota once again did have some issues breaking the full-court press, but never let the Buckeyes get within punching distance. It was a mostly consistent performance from the Gophers in a wire-to-wire victory.