For the second straight home game, Dawson Garcia ended with a dunk for the Gophers, but there was no court-storm celebration Saturday.

Washington ruined Garcia's 28-point performance and chance to lead his team to a third straight victory at Williams Arena in the Gophers' 71-68 loss.

Garcia's setting the bar higher for the best season of his career. He has seven straight 20-point games, which hasn't been done since Kris Humphries in 2003-04. But there were tough moments down the stretch.

Garcia missing the first of two free throws with seven seconds left meant the Gophers would at worst need two possessions to tie the game after fouling the Huskies.

He missed the second foul shot purposefully trying for an offensive rebound opportunity, but Washington snagged the board and sealed the win at the foul line.

The Gophers (11-11, 3-8 Big Ten) would not have been close to pulling the game out without Garcia's 23 points in the second half, so it was hard to fault his missed free throws (8-for-12 in second half) as the reason for defeat.

As a team, the Gophers had seven of their eight misses on free throws come in the second half.

"They went to the line and they made their free throws," Gophers head coach Ben Johnson said about the Huskies, who shot 18-for-21. "All those things are details that are important when you're trying to win."

Here are four things learned from the loss to Washington:

Great vs. Garcia

The battle of All-Big Ten preseason big men went in favor of Garcia against Washington's Great Osobor, but it wasn't as one-sided as the individual scoring suggested.

Garcia had just five points in 10 minutes in the first half while sitting with two fouls, but he put on one of his most spectacular offensive efforts in the second half. He shot 7-for-8 from the field in the half and scored 14 straight points to help the Gophers erase a 10-point deficit.

In the first half, Osobor played just nine minutes with two fouls, but he finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and three steals.

The 6-9 senior made his biggest contribution in the clutch with a tip-in shot, steal and forced turnover on Garcia in the last 90 seconds to give Washington the lead for good.

Backcourt blues

The Gophers just aren't the same when their backcourt is severley outplayed, which was a major factor in Saturday's game.

The three-guard starting lineup of Lu'Cye Patterson, Mike Mitchell Jr. and Femi Odukale combined for just 20 points on 7-for-20 shooting. They had 11 assists and six steals but also seven turnovers.

Even with Isaac Asuma's eight points off the bench, Minnesota's entire backcourt was outscored 50-28 in the game.

Washington's Tyler Harris entered Saturday averaging just 7.7 points in his last eight games (only two double figure games in that stretch). Harris broke his slump with 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting Saturday, including 4-for-4 from three-point range.

Harris was a big part of the scouting report, but there were miscues defensively to give him open looks early. He had 15 points in the first half.

"You have to force a team that's not shooting well to miss," Johnson said. "Going into the game, we knew he was a good shooter. We did not want to give him any air space."

Rebounding difference

During their three-game win streak, the Gophers outrebounded Oregon and Iowa, but also controlled the glass against Michigan in the second-half comeback victory in overtime.

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.

Freshman watches

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.

"It was nothing he didn't do," Johnson said of Asuma. "When we were able to chip away at the lead, it was kind of a momentum thing with the group that was in there."