They also won the battle of the boards against Ohio State and Maryland this season in tight losses last month.

Just when you thought the Gophers were matching the physicality of the Big Ten, they were outrebounded 40-22 at Michigan State and 33-25 vs. Washington. The Spartans and Huskies also combined for 29 offensive rebounds and 22 second-chance points in those games.

Imagine if Asuma hadn’t led the Gophers with all of his eight points in the first half Saturday. The Huskies likely would’ve had much larger than a 10-point halftime advantage.

The 6-3 freshman from Cherry was pretty much the entire offense for the Gophers in the first half when Garcia was in foul trouble.

In the last two games, Asuma made plays for the Gophers in the first half, but didn’t play as much after halftime. He had eight points in Tuesday’s 22-point loss at Michigan State, but he only played eight minutes in the second half. He only went in for a few seconds late seemingly for defensive purposes in the second half Saturday against Washington.

Johnson just wanted to roll with his experienced guards against the Huskies in the second half.