Dawson Garcia, Minnesota open with rout of Oral Roberts

Dawson Garcia scored 30 points as Minnesota pulled away for an 80-57 win over Oral Roberts on Wednesday night in both teams' season opener in Minneapolis.

Parker Fox finished with 13 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the floor for Minnesota. Lu'Cye Patterson contributed 10 points in 22 minutes in his Golden Gophers debut.

Isaac McBride scored 15 points to lead Oral Roberts. Carlos Rosario was the only other Golden Eagles player to score in double digits with 12.

Minnesota shot 57.7 percent from the floor (30 of 52) and 61.1 percent from 3-point range (11 of 18). Oral Roberts shot 34.5 percent from the floor (20 of 58) and 30.4 percent from beyond the arc (7 of 23).

Oral Roberts pulled within nine early in the second half. Josh Jones converted a three-point play with a layup and a free throw to trim Minnesota's lead to 38-29 with 18:35 remaining in the game.

The Golden Gophers scored 27 of the next 37 points to open a 65-39 lead with 7:54 left. Mike Mitchell Jr. made a 3-pointer and a layup on back-to-back possessions to give Minnesota its largest lead of the night at 26.

Less than four minutes later, Isaac Asuma's 3-pointer gave Minnesota a 28-point advantage at 74-46 with 4:06 to play.

Minnesota led 38-24 at the half. Garcia, who went 11-for-14 shooting from the floor for the game, led all scorers with 18 points.

The Golden Gophers sprinted to a 29-8 lead in the first 11 1/2 minutes. Mitchell Jr. made a pair of free throws to put Minnesota on top by 21.

Oral Roberts bounced back with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 29-16 with 5:28 left in the half. Darius Robinson Jr. drained a 3-pointer, McBride made a layup and Sam Alajiki hit a 3-pointer during the run.

A 10-0 run helped Minnesota establish its big early lead. The score was tied at 2-2 when the Golden Gophers surged forward with a 3-pointer by Garcia, a layup by Fox, a 3-pointer by Patterson and a dunk by Fox to make it 12-2.

--Field Level Media