The Gophers men’s basketball team were having a bear of a time with UCLA’s defense in the first half Tuesday.

The Bruins were holding opponents to a Big Ten-best 64.8 points per game, and Minnesota managed only 23 points in the opening 20 minutes — the lowest total UCLA has allowed in conference play this season.

Minnesota star Dawson Garcia had only five points in the first half as double teams were routinely thrown at him, but the U’s MVP poured in 27 in the second half of a 64-61 comeback win at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.

The U was down 17 in the first half, 11 at halftime and four with two minutes to go. Minnesota kept chipping away and led for only 26 seconds Tuesday.

“The response was what we have been doing for a long time,” Gophers head coach Ben Johnson said on the KFXN-FM postgame show. “Obviously this is one of the biggest stages to get tested in a lot of different ways. … For those guys to just respond the way they did in this atmosphere against that team. We have so much respect for coach (Mick) Cronin and that team and to do it on the road. It shows we are maturing at the right time.”

Minnesota (14-12, 6-9) swept the two California teams on the road over four days, with another double-digit comeback to beat USC 69-66 on Saturday. Only Big Ten leader Michigan has also done that this season.

UCLA (19-8, 10-6 Big Ten) were 11-point favorites and had won eight of nine. They baited Minnesota into four shot-clock violations among 10 turnovers in the first half.

Lu’Cye Patterson, who was also stifled in the first half, hit a big lay-up with a minute left to give the Gophers its first lead at 60-59.

Sebastian Mack gave the Bruins the lead back with a lay-up with 44 seconds remaining.

Patterson missed a trey with 20 seconds remaining but didn’t let the miss phase him and converted a lay-up with seven ticks left. He finished with 11 points and also drew a charge on Mack in the final seconds.

Garcia, who made 9 of 15 shots, finished the game with a pair of free throws to go 11 of 12 from the stripe.

The Gophers fell into a 17-point deficit as UCLA went on a 9-0 run to make it 29-12 with 5:31 remaining in the half. But the U went on a 11-5 finish to the half and trailed 34-23.

The Bruins paid extra attention to Garcia and Patterson with extra defenders. They combined to shoot 4 for 10 from the field and a combined 10 points in the first half.

Mike Mitchell helped keep Minnesota closer with eight first half points and a pair of 3-pointers. He had a pair of threes in the second half and finished with 14.

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