A sprained ankle will keep leading scorer Dawson Garcia out of the lineup Saturday when the Gophers men’s basketball team hosts Florida Gulf Coast.
Garcia turned his ankle two minutes into the game Thursday against Nebraska. He toughed through the pain for a bit more but wound up playing fewer than seven minutes, with head coach Ben Johnson saying afterward that it wasn’t a serious injury.
“Now it’s just a matter of time and how quickly he can heal from it,” Johnson said during a Friday press conference. “This is a straight ankle sprain. Thank goodness there was nothing else going on. He rolled it pretty good. Thankfully it’s not a high ankle because those take a long time.”
Without Garcia, the Gophers fell behind Nebraska by 17 points and trailed 39-24 only to shock the Cornhuskers with a 52-26 advantage in the second half en route to a 76-65 win at Williams Arena.
Garcia has been a beast in the early goings for the 6-3 Gophers, averaging 18.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. He’s seventh in the Big Ten in scoring, 10th in rebounding and his 55 free-throw attempts (47 made) is second in the conference to Ohio State’s Bruce Thornton (58 attempts).
Johnson mixed up the starting lineup against Nebraska, inserting true freshman guard Cam Christie for Isaiah Ihnen. The most likely candidate to replace Garcia in the starting five is sophomore Pharrel Payne.
Florida Gulf Coast 3-7, but they played Indiana close in a 69-63 loss in the season opener. The Hoosiers are now 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten with wins over Maryland and Michigan.
Saturday’s game between the Gophers and FGC tips off at 11 a.m. CT.
