Gophers score 14 points in first half, lose to North Texas

The Minnesota Golden Gophers dropped their first game of the 2024-25 season to North Texas on Wednesday night, 54-51, at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

Minnesota struggled early on as they only managed to put up 14 total points in the first half alone and trailed by nine heading into the second half.

Dawson Garcia was the only Gopher to score double-digit points, putting up 24 points on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor. He also shot a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line in the losing effort.

Overall, it was a rough shooting night for the Golden Gophers, as they shot 31.3% from the floor (15-for-48) and 26.1% from the three-point line (6-for-23).

Lu'Cye Patterson added nine points and Trey Edmonds had six points with seven rebounds as well.

The Gophers started the game shooting 1-for-15 from the field and 1-for-9 from three. The only shot made was a three-pointer from Garcia as North Texas led 17-6. Garcia reached the 1,000-point career mark with a free throw in the first half.

Minnesota worked its way back into the game in the second half but had some late errors that proved to be costly.

Brennan Rigsby hit a three-pointer that gave the Gophers their only lead of the entire night, 43-42, with 7:27 remaining in the game. But North Texas went on an 8-0 run to retake a 50-43 lead with 4:30 remaining.

The Gophers cut the lead down to 50-47 and then 52-49 with 2:07 left after Garcia drew a foul and sank both free throws. Garcia ended up hitting a layup with 30.7 seconds left, cutting North Texas' lead to one. However, Minnesota couldn't convert a Patterson three for the win and the Mean Green sealed the game's fate with a dunk with 1.5 seconds remaining.

North Texas shot 37.7% from the field (20-for-53) and 29.4% from three (5-for-17).

The Gophers (2-1) will next take on Yale at Williams Arena on Saturday at 3 p.m.