The Minnesota Golden Gophers struggles in conference play continued on Monday night as the Golden Gophers fell to the Maryland Terrapins 77-71 to drop to 8-9 overall on the season and 0-6 in conference play.

For the third straight game, the Gophers saw a strong first-half effort go to the wayside due to a poor second-half effort.

Dawson Garcia was one of three Gophers to have a double-digit scoring effort with 21 points, he also had seven rebounds. Isaac Asuma had his second big game in his last three games with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting while Lu'Cye Patterson also had 15 points, albeit on an inefficient 2-for-7 day from the field, he did, however, go 9-of-10 from the free throw line.

It was a strong day for the Gophers from the free throw line, shooting 82.6%, making 19-of-23 attempts.

Much like in their last two losses to Ohio State and Wisconsin, the Gophers got off to a strong first-half start on Monday night. They shot 50% from the floor including 55.6% from three-point range and found themselves up 35-32 at halftime.

Dawson Gracia and Isaac Asuma were both fantastic in the first half with 12 and 10 points respectively.

However, the second half would not be as strong of an effort from Ben Johnson's program, as they shot just 34.5% from the field while allowing Maryland to shoot 56.0% They also sent the Terrapins to the free throw line for 17 attempts in the second half. Overall, the Gophers were outscored in the final 20 minutes of play 45-36.

Maryland's Derik Queen was especially dominant in the second half with 187 points on 6-of-8 shooting including 6-of-7 from the free throw line. Rodney Rice also had a big second half for the Terrapins with 14 second-half points.

The Gophers will now be back in action on Thursday against the No. 20 Michigan Wolverines. The Wolverines are currently 13-3 on the season and 5-0 in conference play, winners of five straight.

============================

- Talk about it INSIDE GOPHER NATION.

- Follow us on Twitter: @MinnesotaRivals, @RivalsDylanCC

- SUBSCRIBE to Gophers Nation