Nine reasons to appreciate Gophers star Dawson Garcia as his college career winds down

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Time is running out to see one of the greatest Gophers men’s basketball players at Williams Arena. Senior forward Dawson Garcia has two remaining home games in his collegiate career, Tuesday against Northwestern and March 5 versus Wisconsin.

That’s it.

Minnesota (14-13, 6-10 Big Ten) sits 14th in the conference, and given his enormous impact it could be a nightmare to think where the U would be without its 6-foot-11 go-to scorer and unquestioned leader in the locker room.

“(He) has just given everything to me, to this program,” head coach Ben Johnson said last week. “(He) takes a ton of pride in, obviously, setting the bar and the standard for what we want to be about from here moving forward. And he’s done it on and off the floor.”

Here are nine reasons to appreciate what Garcia has meant to the Gophers in his three seasons in Dinkytown:

Record book

Garcia has amassed 1,467 points so far from 2022-25, and is on the verge of becoming one of the top 10 scorers in program history — a club currently composed almost exclusively of four-year players.

Garcia scored a combined 495 points during his freshman year at Marquette and sophomore season at North Carolina. If those points came when he was wearing maroon and gold, he would be threatening the U’s top all-time scorer, Michael Thompson, who racked up 1,992 points from 1975-78.

“He’d be looking at setting a bar,” Johnson said. “In today’s culture, I don’t know how many times it’s going to get passed. … He’s been super productive.”

He stuck around

A McDonald’s All-American from Savage, Garcia went elsewhere early in his career, but then remained loyal to the U despite much-more lucrative NIL (name, image and likeness) opportunities at other marquee programs in the offseason.

“Anytime you get a step on this floor, wear the Minnesota uniform, it’s a pleasure,” Garcia said. “It’s an honor.”

A top scorer

Garcia’s 19.4 points per game puts him in a tie for third-highest scorer in the Big Ten…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nine-reasons-appreciate-gophers-star-223900045.html

Author : Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Publish date : 2025-02-24 22:39:00

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