The Minnesota Golden Gophers overcame a sloppy first-half effort and shot lights out in the second half to overcome a once 10-point deficit and defeat the Penn State Nittany Lions on the road, Tuesday night 69-61.

Dawson Garcia had another strong performance with 19 points and 14 rebounds while Lu'Cye Patterson and Brennan Rigsby provided tremendous efforts of their own, finishing with 14 points apiece.

The Gophers took advantage of a Penn State lineup missing key center Yanic Konan-Niederhäuser and dominated under the basket in the win with 40 points in the paint as well as winning the rebound battle 35-30 including 26 defensive rebounds.

Leading Penn State was guard D'Marco Dunn who had 18 points, six rebounds, and three assists.

It was an ugly first half for both sides on Tuesday evening. Over the first four minutes of action, the only point on the board for either team was a Parker Fox layup, Dawson Gracia would double the score at the 15:34 mark with a tip-in.

Penn State was extremely sloppy in the opening minutes, with four turnovers in the first minute. It took until the 13:44 mark of the half for Mike Rhoades's program to get on the board with a DeMarco Dunn layup. It would be a slight jump start for the Nittany Lions, who would go on a 7-0 run starting with the layup.

The Gophers would keep the game close for the next several minutes, the two sides exchanging baskets while continuing overall sloppy play.

While Minnesota continued to struggle to find their form offensively, Penn State would begin to catch fire for several minutes starting at the 7:28 mark with a DeMarco Dunn layup. The Nittany Lions would make six of their next eight shots to extend their lead to as much as 10 points at 25-15.

Needing some momentum before the half, the Gophers would go on a quick 6-0 run to close out the first half on a 6-0 run which included an emphatic Brennan Rigsby dunk to bring the deficit down to just 25-21 at halftime.

That strong effort heading into the break would breed some much-needed confidence for the Gophers heading into the final 20 minutes of action. After shooting just 38.5% in the first half, the Gophers could not miss in the second half, making 16-of-23 attempts, a shooting percentage of 69.6% which included going 4-of-7 from three-point range.

Penn State wouldn't have even half the success the Gophers did as the Nittany Lions shooting percentage of 40.0% in the first half dropped to 30.3% in the second half. The NIttany Lions struggled from deep in the final 20 minutes making just three of 11 attempts.

Coming out of halftime, both teams would get off to faster starts offensively, as the Nittany Lions looked to hold off the red-hot Gophers.

Penn State would be successful in doing so until the 10:05 mark in the second half as a Mike Mitchell three-pointer tied the game at 44-44. The Nittany Lions would make two free throws on the opposite end to respond but a second Mitchell three-pointer just 13 seconds later would give the Gophers a 47-46 lead, one that they wouldn't look back from.

The lead would quickly grow for the Gophers up to six points and by the final three minutes of action, it was to as high as 11 points. Minnesota at one point from the 10:28 mark to the 2:41 mark made eight straight baskets, their second run in the half of five or more consecutive baskets made.

The Nittany Lions looked to make a late run and were able to the Gophers' lead down to six but the Gophers would put the game away in the final 34 seconds with four made free throws on six attempts en route to a 69-61 win.

Dawson Gracia would be the easy pick here with 19 points and 14 rebounds but we're going to go with Oregon transfer Brennan Rigsby who was a kickstarter for the Gophers on Tuesday night. His emphatic dunk in the first half felt like it flipped momentum to the Gophers and he was terrific for the entirety of the game, making all five attempts from the floor including a pair of three-pointers. He also had three rebounds and one assist.

The Gophers now 12-11, 3-9 will take the court on Saturday in the friendly confines of Willims Arena at 5:00 p.m. when they take on the No. 23 Illinois Fighting Illini. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

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