The Minnesota Golden Gophers couldn't overcome an ugly first half in which they scored just 14 points and were 3-for-21 from the floor in a 54-51 loss to North Texas on Wednesday night at Williams Arena.

Dawson Garcia once again put forth a terrific effort, shooting 6-of-9 from the field and was 10-for-10 from the free throw line while also recording eight rebounds.

Lu'Cye Patterson had nine points but struggled from the field, hitting just 3-of-14 attempts including 1-for-7 from three-point range.

As a team, the Gophers shot 31.3% from the field in the game including 6-of-23 from three-point range.

It was a first half that Ben Johnson and the Golden Gophers are not going to want to remember.

In Wednesday night's loss, the Gophers hit just one of their first 17 shots from the floor, that lone make coming at the 15:41 mark of the half. They would then go over 12 minutes without another field goal, as a Dawson Garcia layup at the 3:15 mark finally broke a run of 12 straight missed from the floor.

While the Gophers struggled to find any success, North Texas wasn't doing too much better, hitting just seven of their first 26 first-half shots. However, those handful of makes and seven made free throws were good enough to give the Mean Green a 23-14 lead heading into halftime.

Coming out of the half, the Gophers would begin to find a rhythm offensively making eight of their first nine shots of the half, narrowing North Texas's lead to 36-32 with over 13 and half minutes left.

Unfortunately for Ben Johnson and his program, the shooting blues would quickly return as they missed eight of their next nine shots from the floor. It would be a major missed opportunity for the Gophers as the Mean Green were unable to establish their lead during the Gophers' offensive struggles. Despite missing eight of nine shots, the Gophers found themselves down just 40-38 with eight minutes to go.

In the closing minutes, the Gophers would get the Mean Green lead down to as close as one point but were unable to find a go-ahead score as they would miss three of four shot attempts in the final minute.

In the final seconds with the Gophers trailing 52-51, it appeared that Mean Green guard Jonathan Massie committed a travel after rebounding a Lu'Cye Patterson missed three-point attempt but the travel would go uncalled. Forward Brenan Lorient would slam home the ensuing in-bounds pass effectively icing the game with just one second remaining.

The loss drops the Gophers record to 2-1 on the season after picking up back-to-back wins to start the season against Oral Roberts and Omaha.

The Gophers will now have a few days off before they face the Ivy League's Yale Bulldogs on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. Yale is 2-2 this season with two losses on the road to University of Illinois-Chicago and Purdue.

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

- Talk about it INSIDE GOPHER NATION.

- Follow us on Twitter: @MinnesotaRivals, @RivalsDylanCC

- SUBSCRIBE to Gophers Nation