Gophers men’s basketball star forward Dawson Garcia will miss Saturday’s game against Florida Gulf Coast at Williams Arena, head coach Ben Johnson said Friday.

Johnson said Garcia has an ankle sprain, not a high-ankle sprain, which would require a longer layoff. “It’s a matter of time and how quickly he can heal,” he said.

Garcia injured his left ankle within the opening three minutes of Minnesota’s 76-65 win over Nebraska on Wednesday. He returned to play on both sides of the half, but was subbed out after only two minutes of the second half.

The Gophers have four nonconference games before the restart of Big Ten play in early January, which makes this an OK time to be without Garcia. He is the U’s leading scorer (18.2 points per game) and rebounder (7.4) across nine games this season.

“If there ever was a time — it has nothing to do with opponent — but there are going to be some days off coming up with Christmas break,” Johnson said. “What I told guys is, ‘Everyone wants to play. What are you going to do with the opportunity now?’ ”

Players such as Pharrel Payne, Josh Ola-Joseph, Parker Fox and Zach Wilson are candidates to take on more responsibilities with Garcia out.

Last season, Garcia missed five Big Ten games due to injury in late January and early February, and Minnesota lost all five of them during a 2-17 conference season.

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