Ben Johnson foreshadowed the start of Friday’s game at Indiana.

On Wednesday, the Gophers men’s basketball coach relayed that he had told his team about the challenge of playing at Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

“I addressed it right away, this is probably going to be the best environment we’ve played in,” Johnson told reporters on the U’s practice court. “We have to find a way to not have that impact us the first four minutes and have the oohs and the aahs.”

The Gophers fell into a nine-point hole within these first four minutes and couldn’t recover in a 74-62 loss to the Hoosiers.

Minnesota (12-4, 3-2 Big Ten) had a seven-game win streak, including three in Big Ten play, come to an end.

As a 4.5-point favorite, Indiana (12-5, 4-2) increased its unbeaten streak against Minnesota in Bloomington to 12 years since 2012.

Johnson understands addressing the tough road environment to his still-younger and inexperienced team would be one thing — living it another.

“They are going to be loud,” said of the Hoosiers fan. “There’s going to be a momentum play. Try to get them to understand that now and say we don’t want to battle that and have the big eyes that first four to eight minutes. But unfortunately we still got to go through it. It’s experiences when you are dealing what a new group.

The Gophers fell in a 17-point hole less than eight minutes into the game, but cut the deficit to 41-31 at the half. The rejuvenation was short-lived and the crater sank to a 21 points at 60-39.

The Hoosiers didn’t have much trouble getting through the Gophers zone, while Minnesota shot poorly from deep.  The U made only three of 20 from 3-point range.

Minnesota’s two most-important players — Garcia and Hawkins — each picked up two fouls within the first four minutes and subbed out.

Without their leaders, Minnesota struggled with direction on offense and the turnovers stacked up. At one point, seven U turnovers were turned into 10 points for the Hoosiers.

The nadir was a 25-8 margin with 12:14 in the first half.

The U’s trio of starting guards — Cam Christie, Mike Mitchell and Hawkins were a combined 1 for 13 from the field in the first half.

But Pharrel Payne’s presence in the post helped the Gophers keep it somewhat close with 15-3 run. He had 12 first-half points, missing only one of six shots, and four rebounds. He finished with a team-high 17 points.

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