Gophers fall to Wake Forest, leave holiday tournament winless

Minnesota's early-season struggles have continued.

Nov 28, 2024; Orlando, Florida, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Lu'Cye Patterson (25) reacts after a play against the Wichita State Shockers in the second half at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Gophers found themselves in another slow-paced slugfest and came up short, falling 57-51 to Wake Forest on Friday in Orlando. It was their second loss in as many days.

After a heartbreaking last-second loss in overtime to Wichita State on Thursday, the Gophers had less than 24 hours to prepare for the third-place game of the ESPN Events Invitational. They played without Mike Mitchell Jr., who's still recovering from a high ankle sprain, for a sixth straight game.

#Gophers MBB starters today against Wake Forest

Lu'Cye Patterson
Brennan Rigsby
Femi Odukale
Dawson Garcia
Frank Mitchell

No Mike Mitchell Jr.... again. pic.twitter.com/2qT0dlnrZJ

— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) November 29, 2024

The Gophers have the fourth-slowest pace in all of Division I basketball, and they played their style of basketball once again on Friday. They carried a 29-27 lead into the halftime locker room, but it was far from pretty. Minnesota shot 3-9 from the free throw line and star forward Dawson Garcia's struggled again with a 2-8 first half from the field.

Garcia was never able to get going. He played 39 minutes and finished the day with 8 points on 3-12 shooting from the field. Across the two losses in this tournament, Garcia had just 12 total points on 4-19 shooting. Lu'Cye Patterson added 12 points and Isaac Asuma finished with a career-high 11 points, but Minnesota's offense badly missed its preseason all-conference talent.

The Gophers' defense was impressive once again, holding an opponent to fewer than 60 points for the fourth time this season, but their offensive struggles cost them. This was also their fourth game scoring less than 60 points offensively.

Wake Forest's Tre'Von Spillers led all scorers with 18 points and the Demon Deacons substantially out-rebounded the Gophers, 42-27.

Minnesota leaves Orlando with narrow losses to Wichita State and Wake Forest and a 5-3 overall record. Ben Johnson's team will now travel back to Minneapolis for a nonconference game on Sunday against Bethune-Cookman at 2 p.m. CT.