Heading into Saturday’s tilt, Gophers basketball coach Ben Johnson said a goal was to end the season by playing without regrets and getting momentum before the postseason.
After a hideous start, Minnesota surely found the latter.
Cam Christie scored 19 points, Elijah Hawkins had 18 and the Gophers overcame a 23-point first-half deficit to beat Penn State 75-70 at Williams Arena.
“Just being able to have that perseverance is something we need to bottle up and know that we can be in any single game and take that over with us into the tournaments,” said Parker Fox, who finished with 11 points, six rebounds and four blocks.
Minnesota Gophers guard Elijah Hawkins drives to the basket against Penn State’s Qudus Wahab in the first half at Williams Arena on March 2, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
Minnesota (18-11, 9-9 Big Ten), which has won three of five, welcomes Indiana on Wednesday and finishes the regular season at Northwestern on Saturday before the Big Ten tournament begins March 13 at Target Center.
The second half was reminiscent of when these teams met Jan. 27 in Happy Valley. Then, Minnesota trailed by 14 at the half before winning by nine.
This time it was a 21-5 second-half stretch, capped by an NBA-distance 3-pointer by Christie, that allowed the Gophers to take a four-point lead.
Included in the stretch were back-to-back 3s by Mike Mitchell Jr. and Hawkins followed by a jumper from Christie and Fox scoring down low to get Minnesota within 53-51, further firing up a season-high 11,318 in attendance.
Penn State took a 63-62 lead, but a steal by Hawkins set up Mitchell for a layup with 2:05 to play and Minnesota never trailed again.
The Gophers made 11 of 13 free throws in the final 2 minutes to finish a half in which they outscored Penn State 45-28.
Minnesota shot 57.7% in the second half after just 33.3% in the first 20 minutes, including 4 of 9 from deep after making just 1 of 11 in the first half.
“We just talked about when you’re like that you just got to chip away, find little victories to get you into halftime. The positive thing is we’ve been there before, so I don’t think there was any panic. It was more like when we get to half let’s regroup with urgency, especially on the defensive end and figure out ways to get consecutive stops,” Johnson said.
Penn State (14-16, 8-11) shot 52% in the first half, including 9 of 13 from deep but dropped to 37.9%, including 2 for 10 from deep, and committed 10 of its 17 turnovers in the second half.
Fox, a redshirt senior from Mahtomedi, had his first career start as a Gopher on Senior Day. He played three seasons at Northern State before knee injuries sidelined him the past two seasons.
“That a guy that’s been with me from day one. He’s battled. Anytime I can kind of reward a guy and let him get his name called I want to do it. He’s obviously earned that. Parker could easily start for this team, but I love what he brings off the bench, I love the energy. He just wants to win,” Johnson said. “He’s at this stage in his career where when you battle those type of injuries he wants to win for the guys in the locker room, for the program and for the state.”
Hawkins added eight assists, bumping his season total to 211 and breaking the single-season mark of 207 set by Marcus Carr in 2019-20.
“It’s just a testament to who he is … whether it’s an unselfish pass when he could take the shot or throwing a lob or creating something for somebody else,” said Fox, who scored the basket on the record-breaking assist. “The way he approaches the game and plays, it’s so fun to be a part of it.”
Minnesota played without starting guard Braeden Carrington (concussion).
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