Gophers knock off No. 15 Oregon in front of raucous crowd

The Gophers have flipped a switch with their third straight win in Big Ten play.

Jan 25, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Dawson Garcia (3) controls the ball as Oregon Ducks forward James Cooper (12) defends during the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images | Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

The red-hot Gophers men's basketball team continued its resurgence on Saturday afternoon with another big-time win, beating No. 15 Oregon 77-69 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

The Gophers (11-9, 3-6 Big Ten) were playing in front of their biggest home crowd of the season, and they fed off their energy as soon as the game tipped off. Minnesota started 10-for-14 shooting from the field and quickly jumped out to a 27-11 lead before giving Oregon (16-4, 5-4) a chance to even settle into the game.

The Ducks are too good of a team to give up, and they answered with a 12-2 run of their own. Minnesota continued to control the tempo with 13 assists on 17 made field goals, highlighted by beautiful all-around ball movement on a Lu'Cye Patterson three late in the half.

"If you don't like that sequence, you don't like basketball." @GopherMBB shows off some SICK ball movement 😎#B1GMBBall on BTN 📺 pic.twitter.com/JX2EdiunQY

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) January 25, 2025

Dawson Garcia led Minnesota with 14 first-half points and Parker Fox added 10 more as the Gophers led 44-38 heading into the locker room. The pace of the game slowed down precipitously in the second half, and it was a defensive slugfest down the stretch. Great energy from Fox on both ends of the floor, impressive ball movement and continued scoring from Garcia was Minnesota's game plan over the final 20 minutes.

It was another nail-biter down to the wire, but the Gophers are becoming increasingly experienced in close games, and they closed this one out for their third straight Big Ten victory.

Fox recorded the first double-double of his Gophers career with 13 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out, and Garcia looked like a future NBA player with 31 points on 13-for-19 shooting from the field.

Life in the Big Ten does not any easier for the Gophers as they will now look ahead to a Tuesday night game on the road against No. 8 Michigan State. Minnesota has won three straight Quad 1 games and it'll have a chance to make it four in East Lansing, Mich. Tipoff Tuesday is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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