Hawkins sets Gophers' single-season assists record in comeback win over Penn State
It was a little bit like deja vu watching the Gophers men's basketball team take on Penn State Saturday afternoon at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
The last time the two teams faced off on Jan. 27, Minnesota rallied from a 16-point deficit before finding its way to an 83-74 victory in State College, Pa.
So when the Gophers fell behind by 23 points in the first half on their Senior Day, it felt like it was only a matter of time before they made a run. Sure enough it was.
Minnesota rallied from the 23-point deficit and found its way to a 75-70 victory in front of an announced crowd of 11,318 at The Barn — the largest the season — in a game that Elijah Hawkins broke the U's single-season assists record that was set by Marcus Carr during the 2019-20 season.
After trailing for most of the contest, the Gophers (18-11, 9-9 Big Ten) finally took a 58-57 lead when Cam Christie went off the glass on a drive in the paint. Christie followed that up by hitting a 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 49 seconds remaining that gave the U a 62-58 advantage, its largest of the game at that point.
"I just think you're seeing (Christie) right now playing like a sophomore. I don't know if he's hit a wall this year," Gophers coach Ben Johnson said. "You know, he had a little bit of a lull, but I don't know if he hit that freshman wall. And now I think you're seeing him spring into a really confident like sophomore."
Penn State (14-16, 8-11) wasn't done fighting, however, as Puff Johnson made a layup, was fouled and hit the free throw for a three-point play, and Ace Baldwin Jr. hit a pair of free throws as the Nittany Lions retook the lead at 64-63.
But Hawkins got a steal and found Mike Mitchell Jr. in transition for a layup, Christie knocked down a pair of free throws and Hawkins did, too, as the U jumped back ahead 68-63 with just over a minute remaining in the contest.
That served enough of a cushion for the U to complete the comeback victory.
Mitchell finished the game with 11 points.
Hawkins set the single-season assists record with a feed to Fox, who made a layup that cut the Gophers’ deficit to 53-51 with just under 10 minutes remaining and capped a 10-0 Minnesota run during which the U held Penn State scoreless for 4 minutes, 8 seconds. That was much of the leg work in overcoming the early hole.
"Tell (Hawkins) he owes me dinner or something, right?" Fox joked when asked about what it meant to be on the receiving end of Hawkins' record assist. "I think it's just a testament to who he is. He's such a fun player. ... Whether it's an unselfish pass when he could take the shot or throwing a lob or creating something for somebody else, it's just the way he kind of approaches the game and plays, it's so fun to be a part of it.
"Honestly, it's fun for us, too, because we get to score more, so yeah, we'll take it."
Hawkins finished with 18 points and eight assists, giving him 211 assists on the season, four ahead of Carr’s previous program-best mark of 207 during the 2019-20 season.
Hawkins is currently second in the nation at 7.5 assists per game.
The Gophers were without Braeden Carrington, who was ruled out before the game with concussion-like symptoms. Johnson said Carrington suffered the concussion in the second half of the Gophers' loss to Illinois on Wednesday and that Carrington "would've tried to play if it were up to him," but the U wanted to be "really smart" and cautious, so they held him out of Saturday's game.
Carrington's absence was certainly felt, particularly on the defensive side of the ball in the first half. The Gophers struggled to contain the Nittany Lions' backcourt of Johnson and Baldwin — who scored 19 and 17 points, respectively — without their best perimeter defender in Carrington.
The duo combined for 24 points in the first half when the Nittany Lions led by as many as 23 points and took a 12-point advantage into the halftime break.
But the Gophers had plenty of firepower of their own. Along with Hawkins’ big game, Christie finished with 19 points and Fox tallied 11 points and six rebounds, getting the start, making a big impact and, best of all, getting a win on his Senior Day.
"I think it's just about the win at the end of the day. It's great to have Senior Night, it's always a cool thing I think, especially P. Fox, the journey he's been on here. It's really cool to see him honored the way he should be," said reserve big man Jack Wilson, who was also honored on Senior Day. "Just good to pick up another win."
