Men’s basketball: Gophers start sluggish but finish strong in exhibition win over Bemidji State

Gophers men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson opted for two exhibition games in October instead of one preseason game and one clandestine, closed scrimmage held in previous years. He wanted his vastly remade roster to get better acclimated to Williams Arena.

The first exhibition game came Saturday against Division II Bemidji State, and Minnesota was not ready for the light of day in the first half.

Getting outrebounded and leading only 41-40 at the break, the U struggled with a Beavers team that was 13-16 last season and has been picked to finish fifth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference this winter.

Minnesota’s defense tightened in the second half and the U ran away in a 90-65 victory. Veteran returnees Dawson Garcia, Parker Fox and Mike Mitchell helped turn it on. Mitchell had game-highs of 19 points and eight assists, Garcia added 15 points and Fox 14 points.

“The first half of every (exhibition), I don’t care if I was player or you watch on TV, you just got to get through the first 20 minutes. It’s a nightmare,” Johnson said. “But that’s the reason why I wanted to play two exhibition games, kind of get an actual game in us, with the crowd, with the refs and the other team. The first half is what it is. Pretty standard. But it’s the response.”

Minnesota had five kills — a set of three defensive stops in a row — in the second half, after only two in the first half.

The U will play Division III Hamline on Oct. 29 at the Barn before the regular season starts at home against Oral Roberts on Nov. 6.

Deep threat

Brennan Rigsby, a transfer guard from Oregon, showed off a nice shooting stroke Saturday, going 3 for 6 from 3-point range, including one that was a step (or two) in from the block M logo. The senior finished with 17 points, also scoring in mid-range and with a springiness to get above the rim for dunks.

“I try to not just score in one way, be one-dimensional,” Rigsby said. “It’s pretty easy (Saturday) when you have weapons like Dawson…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/men-basketball-gophers-start-slugging-190400595.html

Author : Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Publish date : 2024-10-19 19:04:00

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