Dawson Garcia’s buzzer-beater 3 from logo lifts Minnesota in OT

MINNEAPOLIS – Dawson Garcia started calling the ball before he crossed half court. When he got it, he let it fly to give Minnesota its first Big Ten win of the season.

Garcia’s 3-pointer from near the rim of the center logo beat the overtime buzzer to give Minnesota an 84-81 victory over No. 20 Michigan on Thursday night.

Garcia, whose two free throws with 7.4 seconds left sent it to overtime, spent much of the game pounding the inside on both ends of the court against Michigan’s twin towers, 7-footers Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin. In fact, just before his buzzer-beater, Garcia was taken to the hoop by Wolf for a layup that tied it at 81 with seven seconds to play.

Gophers coach Ben Johnson called a play during the previous huddle just in case the game came down to one more possession. But Patterson bubbled the inbound pass and didn’t have a chance to set up the play.

Instead, Lu’Cye Patterson brought the ball into the front court, then passed to Garcia, who was behind on the play. The 6-foot-11 senior had his back heel on the “M” logo as he launched a high-arcing jumper that splashed through the net as the buzzer sounded, touching off a wild moment as his teammates and fans alike erupted the pitch to celebrate.

“It’s a little bit of broken play, combined with them kind of knowing the concepts of what we’re trying to do,” Johnson said. “And they read it wonderfully.”

Patterson originally had a different outcome in mind.

“I was just trying to get to the cup,” Patterson said. “But (Garcia) wanted it and I set it up for him. I tried to put the ball in the right spot for his hands and he did it. I trust him, you know, like he’s my brother, so it was a no-brainer for me.”

Garcia wasn’t quite sure how far past the half court line he had made it before he shot.

“I didn’t know it at first,” he said, “but I looked back and I thought, ‘I think I was at the logo!’

Garcia finished with 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Gophers (9-10, 1-6).