San Francisco controlled the glass and tempo Saturday evening at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., as the Dons led wire to wire to beat the Gophers men’s basketball team 77-65.
A combination of frontcourt foul trouble, sluggish first-half scoring and inability to capitalize on free throws contributed to Minnesota’s second nonconference loss. Gophers coach Niko Medved said Jaylen Crocker-Johnson’s foul trouble hurt the Gophers (4-2), but touched on a familiar issue that’s haunted Minnesota.
“The two stats I look at right now are they had 11 made threes and we were 15 of 30 from the free-throw line,” Medved said. “Another team makes 11 threes, and you miss 15 free throws. That’s pretty hard to overcome.”
Gophers center Robert Vaihola, who had started each of Minnesota’s first five games, was out with a knee injury. Sophomore big man Nehemiah Turner stepped into his position in the starting lineup after not playing in any of Minnesota’s previous three contests.
Dons’ leading scorer Ryan Beasley knocked down a 3-pointer on their opening possession, and from that point on, San Francisco (5-1) never trailed.
Minnesota utilized a zone defense against Chicago State on Tuesday when the Cougars seized momentum in the second half. Medved deployed it earlier versus the Dons, who saw it 12 minutes into the game and led 21-18.
The Gophers shot 34.8% from the field before the break, and their free-throw shooting woes continued, going 7 for 13 (53.8%) at the charity stripe. Despite that, Minnesota remained within striking distance, trailing 34-27 at the half.
Cade Tyson — who entered Saturday as the Big Ten’s leading scorer, averaging 23.4 points — only registered two field-goal attempts in the first half. The North Carolina transfer had five points at halftime, thanks to three free throws and a layup.
Minnesota hung around in the second and went on an 8-0 run midway through the second half to tie it, 52-52, but the Dons responded. It was a charge led by Langston Reynolds and Crocker-Johnson.
Reynolds, a sparkplug off the bench on both ends of the court, led Minnesota with 16 points to go with five rebounds and three assists.
Medved said Reynolds is at his best when he is crashing the paint and getting to the rim.
“It was really good to see him, you know, get aggressive and get on the attack, and get in the lane, and he was really causing problems,” Medved said.
Beasley responded to Minnesota’s run with another one of his four 3-pointers. He led the contest in scoring, finishing with 24 points and four assists.
Foul trouble plagued the Gophers as top frontcourt option Crocker-Johnson left the game with six minutes to play after picking up his fourth foul. Crocker-Johnson re-entered three minutes later but fouled out with 2:07 to go and Minnesota trailing 64-58.
San Francisco countered every punch the Gophers threw down the stretch to claim a 77-65 Power Four nonconference victory at a neutral site.
The Gophers finished with nine assists to 12 turnovers, a product of stagnant offensive possessions due to the Dons’ swarming defense. Medved said his team was not “nasty” enough on defense, but San Francisco’s pressure caused problems for his squad.
“I thought we got a little bit sped up at times, on offense,” Medved said. “They got after us, and we kind of rushed some things and probably left some plays out there.”
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