Despite fiery timeout, Gophers fall 86-77 to Iowa

Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery has a reputation for how red-faced mad he can get during games.

But it was Gophers assistant Dave Thorson who blew his top during the first half of Monday’s game at Williams Arena.

Minnesota’s defense was allowing Hawkeye cutter free routes to the rim, and during a timeout, Thorson laid into players on in the huddle, shouting and gesturing — anything to implore better execution.

While Thorson got mad, the Gophers couldn’t get even and the Hawkeyes beat Minnesota 86-77 at the Barn Williams Arena.

The Gophers had cut the Hawkeyes lead to 67-62, but Elijah Hawkins was beat by a back-door cut and Tony Perkins got room for another basket.

The Gophers (12-5, 3-3) were a 2.5-point favorite against the rival Hawkeyes (11-6, 3-3).

McCaffery, meanwhile, set a new program record with his 272nd win, passing Tom Davis went 271-138 from 1986-99.

The Gophers’ cold 3-point shooting continued from Friday’s 74-62 loss to Indiana. After shooting 3 for 20 from deep against the Hoosiers, Minnesota shot 5 for 29 on Monday

The Hawkeyes, which played without senior forward Patrick McCaffery, were led by Ben Krikke and Josh Dix, who each had 21 points.

Dawson Garcia had 30 points and Josh Ola-Joseph 15, but Pharrel Payne struggled with only three points on 1 of 2 shooting.

The Gophers and Hawkeyes exchanged runs to start the game. The U went on a 10-0 run to help stake a 14-3 lead four minutes into the game, but Iowa countered with 25-6 run to take a 28-20 lead.

Minnesota missed their opening 10 3-pointers until Ola-Joseph made one with five minutes left in the first half.

Minnesota also had eight first-half turnovers lead to 12 points for Iowa. The Hawkeyes led 39-32 at the break.

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