For the first time in Minnesota history, Minnesota men’s basketball defeated Nebraska at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska by two points.

Guard Brennan Rigsby led the team in scoring with 20 points and the go-ahead 3-point shot, but concerns about the team’s ability to win games at home remain. 

Despite finding success on the road, Minnesota’s back-to-back home losses to Penn State and Northwestern put them on the brink of missing the Big Ten Tournament. 

After the loss to Penn State, Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson reorganized the home locker room and changed his pregame speech as if it were a road game. Despite the effort from Johnson, it was not enough to win against the Wildcats. 

“We are just really mentally stuck right now, and I can’t pinpoint what it is necessarily about when we’re not on the road, but we’re a totally different team,” Johnson said. 

Road warriors 

The Gophers entered halftime against both the University of Southern California (USC) and UCLA trailing. Thanks to some last-minute heroics, Minnesota defeated USC 69-66 and UCLA 64-61. 

Against USC, Minnesota overcame a 14-point first-half deficit thanks to a dominant performance by guard Lu’Cye Patterson, who scored a season-high 25 points. 

Patterson’s 19 second-half points included two free throws with 13.2 seconds left to secure a 67-66 lead. 

Minnesota forward Frank Mitchell earned his first double-double of the season against the Trojans with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

The Gophers played spoiler to UCLA by rallying yet again from a double-digit deficit, denying UCLA’s head coach Mick Cronin his 500th career win. 

With 1:02 left in the game, Patterson scored a layup to put the Gophers ahead for the first time in the game.  

In the victory, Minnesota guard Dawson Garcia scored a season-high 32 points. Garcia scored 27 in the second half, which matched UCLA’s total second-half points. 

Despite struggling with free throws for most of the season, Minnesota shot 78.8% from the free-throw line during the two-game road stretch. 

Minnesota is one of two Big Ten teams to defeat both USC and UCLA in Los Angeles this season. 

When the Gophers faced Nebraska, it was quite different than their last two road wins. Against USC and UCLA, they were fighting back in the second half, but against Nebraska they were the leading majority of the second half. 

After getting down early in the second half, Nebraska gained a one-point lead with just under six minutes remaining. 

The game was back and forth after Nebraska took the lead, but Rigsby’s career-high game helped the Gophers leave Lincoln with a win for the first time in 10 games. 

Williams Arena woes

Inability to make 3-point shots, sloppy defense and costly fouls all factored into Minnesota’s consecutive home losses against Penn State and Northwestern. 

In their first game back from the West Coast, the Nittany Lions held off a Minnesota comeback and won 69-60. 

Minnesota started hot by forcing three turnovers and making two early 3-point shots from guard Mike Mitchell Jr. and Garcia. 

Despite the early success, scoring droughts and easy Penn State baskets plagued the Gophers. The Gophers failed to make a shot from the field for the last nine minutes of the half, recording 13 straight missed field goals. An 8-0 Minnesota scoring run late in the game put the Gophers down by three, but the comeback proved to be too little and too late. 

Minnesota guard Femi Odukale led the team in scoring with 15. Odukale said Penn State’s nothing-to-lose approach impacted the team’s play. 

“We didn’t come out with the same sense of urgency we usually do,” Odukale said.

Johnson appeared frustrated during his postgame press conference and expressed concern about the team’s mental focus.  

“We were on our heels too much instead of being the aggressor,” Johnson said. 

To add insult to injury, a season-high 11,292 fans packed the Barn for the loss.

Minnesota could not get back in the win column against Northwestern as forward Nick Martinelli scored a game-high 29 points for the Wildcats in their 75-63 win. 

After trailing for most of the first half, a reverse layup by Minnesota forward Parker Fox tied the game at 21. 

A 3-point shot from Martinelli ended the Northwestern scoring drought, and the Wildcats held the lead for the rest of the game. 

Garcia led Minnesota in scoring with 26 points and shot 5-5 from the free-throw line. 

“We can’t sugarcoat anything,” Garcia said. “We gotta know that we’ve got to win every single game like our lives depend on it.” 

Minnesota returns to the Barn Wednesday, March 5 for their final home game of the season against the No. 12 Wisconsin Badgers.