Men’s basketball: Gophers’ free-throw struggles prove costly in loss to San Francisco
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 band - 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 declared Jaylen Crocker-Johnson s foul trouble hurt the Gophers - but touched on a familiar issue that s haunted Minnesota The two stats I look at right now are they had made threes and we were of from the free-throw line Medved commented Another unit makes threes and you miss 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 -pointer on their opening possession and from that point on San Francisco - 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 minutes into the meeting and led - The Gophers shot from the field before the break and their free-throw shooting woes continued going for at the charity stripe Despite that Minnesota remained within striking distance trailing - at the half Cade Tyson who entered Saturday as the Big Ten s leading scorer averaging 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 - run midway through the second half to tie it - 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 points to go with five rebounds and three assists Medved disclosed 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 noted Beasley responded to Minnesota s run with another one of his four -pointers He led the contest in scoring finishing with points and four assists Foul trouble plagued the Gophers as top frontcourt option Crocker-Johnson left the match with six minutes to play after picking up his fourth foul Crocker-Johnson re-entered three minutes later but fouled out with to go and Minnesota trailing - San Francisco countered every punch the Gophers threw down the stretch to claim a - Power Four nonconference preeminence at a neutral site The Gophers finished with nine assists to turnovers a product of stagnant offensive possessions due to the Dons swarming defense Medved reported his band 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 disclosed They got after us and we kind of rushed various things and apparently left particular plays out there Related Articles Women s hockey Mavericks complete sweep of No Gophers Gophers P J Fleck addresses defensive issues after Northwestern loss Struck out Gophers cough up lead in - loss to Northwestern at Wrigley Field Gophers to be without top tackler and key cornerback vs Northwestern Men s basketball Tommies win on buzzer-beating heave
