The Gophers men’s basketball team made significant progress this season — more than doubling its win total from nine to 19 and advancing to their first postseason since 2019.

But it came to an end Sunday with a 76-64 loss to top seed Indiana State in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament at Hulman Center in Terre Haute, Ind.

Gophers head coach Ben Johnson called Indiana State worthy of making the NCAA tournament, but they were passed over for an at-large berth. The Sycamores will move on in the NIT and play No. 2 seed Cincinnati in the quarterfinals at 8 p.m. Tuesday

Minnesota (19-15) was a 7.5-point underdog but made it interesting in the second half with an 11-0 run to cut the Sycamores lead to 52-49 with 12 minutes remaining. But Indiana State never trailed and separated from the U yet again to win comfortably. .

Gophers best player Dawson Garica didn’t score until hitting a pair of free throws with 13 minutes remaining in the second half. He finished with six points.

Garcia put himself on the bench in the first half. He was called for a personal foul, his second, with 10 minutes left in the first half, and then talked trash with Xavier Bledsoe. Both players were hit with a technical fouls. It was Dawson’s third foul of the game and he sat for a long stretch.

Indiana State had been separating itself before Garcia went to the bench, but it was an onslaught afterward. The Sycamores used a 24-7 run to take a 33-15 lead.

Minnesota responded with a 12-2 run to make it 35-27. They did it without point guard Elijah Hawkins, who went to the bench with an apparent left hip injury. The teams traded baskets and Indiana State led 38-28 at the break.

Hawkins returned for the second half, but he couldn’t last, sitting back down with 15 minutes remaining. He finished with 10 points and one assist in 22 minutes.

Indiana State is having its best season since Larry Bird starred there in the late 1970s. And their bespectackled current leading scorer, Robbie Avila, has a handful of nicknames, including “Larry Nerd.”

But Avila had an off shooting afternoon and finished with 10 points on 1 of 6 from 3-point range. Ryan Connell led all scorers with 23 points.

Indiana State (30-6) won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, but missed out on the NCAA tournament as Drake won their conference tournament.

The Sycamores are eighth in the nation in points per game, averaging 84.9, and they beat Southern Methodist 101-92 in the NIT first round on Wednesday. The Sycamores’ primary rotation of six players each shoot 35 percent from 3-point range.

This is the Gophers’ first NIT appearance since they won the championship in 2014; they won their first-round matchup 73-72 over Butler on Tuesday.

This is the U’s first postseason appearance since advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament five seasons ago.

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