It wasn’t pretty, especially in the first half, but the shorthanded Gophers men’s basketball team surged for a 61-44 win over Oregon late Tuesday night at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore.

After an ugly, 22-point first half, Minnesota surged with a 39-point second half to send the U home happy.

Minnesota (12-14, 5-10 Big Ten) had lost nine of 10 games, but with a rotation of only six players produced its second road win of the season. Oregon (9-17, 2-13) had lost 10 straight until a home win over Penn State on Saturday.

Minnesota was down a third starter, with big man Jaylen Crocker-Johnson (foot) sidelined for both games on the West Coast road trip. He was out for the 69-57 loss to Washington over the weekend.

Oregon put together a 9-0 run to take a 30-29 lead with 13 minutes left, their first since 11-10 in the first half. Niko Medved called a timeout to stem the tide and he dialed up a series of ball screens that led to three successive buckets from Grayson Grove, Isaac Asuma and a trey from Bobby Durkin.

That 7-0 spurt resulted in Dana Altman being the one forced to call a timeout and try to curb the momentum.

Minnesota never trailed again.

The Gophers and Ducks were ice cold in the first half, both shooting 30% from the field. Minnesota was 21% from 3-point range, while Oregon shot 8%.

The U used an 8-0 run on the backs of treys from Asuma and Cade Tyson to take a grinding 22-13 lead, but Oregon narrowed it before the break.

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