Four Gophers make All-B1G, Johnson previews hometown conference tourney

Ben Johnson Press Conference 3/12/24

As they prepare to dive into Big Ten Conference play at a virtual home site in Minneapolis, Gopher Basketball landed four players on the conference’s postseason honor roll.

Click the video box on this page to watch Gophers head coach Ben Johnson discuss the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, to be played this weekend at Target Center in Minneapolis

Dawson Garcia, Elijah Hawkins, Cam Christie and Parker Fox were recognized Tuesday for their play during the regular season. Garcia was named Second Team All-Big Ten by the media and third team by the coaches; Hawkins was an honorable mention in both categories while Christie was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team and Fox received Minnesota’s Sportsmanship Award.

Garcia led Minnesota in multiple statistical categories this season, including points per game (17.7), rebounds per game (6.7) and free throws made, attempted and percentage, starting all 28 games he played in and ranking second in minutes played.

Hawkins, who transferred to Minnesota from Howard before the season, was a key contributor all season long for the Gophers. He recorded 224 assists, tied for the most in the nation, while his 7.5 assists per game ranks second nationally. He also leads the team in minutes played (33.3) per game and steals (50).

Christie averaged 11.3 points per game in his first season of college basketball while shooting 40.9% from the field and 40.3% from three. He ranks third in the conference in freshman scoring, notched two Freshman of the Week honors from the conference and is now the first Gopher to make the All-Freshman Team since Amir Coffey in 2017.

Fox, a Mahtomedi native and redshirt senior forward, was finally able to be a contributor for Minnesota after back-to-back knee injuries sidelined him for the past two seasons since he transferred from Northern State. In a sixth-man role this season, he averaged 4.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 13.3 minutes per game. He also had 25 blocks and 14 steals on the season.

Minnesota finished the season ranked ninth in the Big Ten and opens the conference tournament Thursday morning at 11:00 a.m. against Michigan State.